Slacking Christmas edition!!

Between Lexi being sick, dying and Christmas (7 of them to be exact) I have been slacking to say the least on, well, EVERYTHING.

When you have a disease such as Fibromyalgia doing day to day tasks can be draining but add on everything else this time of year and losing a foster baby it makes things even worse.

I know excuses, poor pity me well, no that's not why I am writing this post. There is a few reasons and none of which is poor pity me.

Millions of people all around the world suffer from chronic diseases (Fibro is just one of them) and the holidays are extra hard requiring more recovery time afterwords. I know its hard for someone outside looking in to understand, but those who have someone close to them battling daily need to keep this in mind when expecting them to just get over it and push forward. Let them sleep, rest, do nothing, even help them with that and other daily tasks that need done during this recovery period. Do your best not to judge, criticize or belittle! They are fighting a battle that they hope you will never have to experience.
To those going through it just remember you will get through it, just like last time, and just like the next time. You are important, loved, needed and YOU GOT THIS!!!

I slacked on Christmas this year big time. I suffered an injury that I still haven't recovered from a week before Christmas due to an altercation with a young women at the police station. My right wrist, elbow and shoulder were dislocated and currently my elbow is still out of place and cannot be put back until the swelling comes down, so the baking didn't get done and the orders didn't get out as fast as they normally do.

This year I did the bare minimal for decorating as in the tree went up and the kids decorated it. The presents got wrapped minus the fancy ribbons, bows and Santa Sleighs. The only baking that got done were a few cookies and the pies that had to be done for the dinners. The kindness isn't finished yet but it will get done and I figure after the holidays is when people could use the uplift the most. We made gingerbread houses but they were not from scratch.

Limited school based learning got done. I wont say limited homeschooling because over this holiday season Blaine learned a lot!

Normally I would say I will do better next year, not going to say that this year because I can't say I wont have a foster die next Christmas, I can't say something wont happen to cause slacking again.

What I can say tho is no one noticed. The kids didn't care that the gingerbread came from a box, or the house and yard wasn't decorated to the nines. No one at the 7 Christmas's cared that my bake trays were lacking or the presents didn't have fancy bows or Santa Sleighs.

There was something this Christmas that made my heart sing. I watched my dad play with my son (tears as I write this). My dad and I had a tough relationship and he wasn't a huge part of my life growing up. I have some memories of some good things but not a whole lot (the brain injuries took many of my memories away and in some cases its a good thing and in others it sucks), Christmas at my grandmothers triggered a memory of building go carts together and racing them. My dad bought my son these race cars that smash into each other. My dad and him had a blast playing with them, I watched my dad smile and laugh and my son call him "My grandpa" all day, "my grandpa come play, my grandpa watch this" I watched my dad light up in a way I haven't seen since I was very very young (under 7).  On the way home my son kept asking when he can see "my grandpa" over and over. A feeling of pride, love and happiness that my dad gets to have this time with him and wants to have this time with him was beyond words.

Foster: Lexi

My sexi lexi is the sweetest, most loving, snuggle bug of a dog. I fell in love with her which says a lot because I am not a small dog or female dog fan. EVERYONE who meets her falls in love instantly!


Lexi came into care in May/June she came from just north of London. She was covered in these weird red bumps all over her body, smelled horrible, had horrible breath and was thought to have been pregnant. She got her shots, antibiotics and spay.

She was only about 7 months old just a baby and was leaking urine, peeing in her crate and the house all of which I thought was from house training. The leaking urine I thought was just from her spay.

Lexi LOVES Blaine and they have so much fun playing, but I noticed she is the worlds laziest puppy ever. I figured it was just the way she was and hey shes easy. We got the peeing and pooping in the house fixed, but she was still leaking and peeing in her crate.

Hiking is her passion and she looks stunning doing it. I can't figure out why she isn't putting on weight like I would like to see and pass it off as shes just active, or maybe like bossco and take years to finally fill out. She could careless about dogs walking by her but people has to know and love them ALL. I think she would make an amazing therapy pup.

Lexi is sick very sick, can't keep anything down, wont get up on the couch or bed, acting funny, and still leaking when she sleeps or walks. We take her to the vet because of the time of year he thinks she are toxic grass, we always avoid areas with signs and I have never seen her eat grass but okay. And she has a bladder infection that is why she is leaking. Antibiotics, antitoxins, antacids and special tummy food for 10 days. She lady bits hang out really far so she is going to get bladder infections a lot throughout her life. We do that she starts to act "normal" again, but is still leaking.

This is the third time she has been at a vets office and the third time I have brought up her breath and smell and its the third time I am told oh its normal. She has cranberries for her food to help prevent bladder infections and stuff for her water to help with her breath and whatever the smell from her is.

She has a few people interested in adopting her but I am not sure, something in my gut says she needs to stay. I explain that the leaking is going to be a problem for adopters. This is the 5th time I have brought it up. We all talk at the rescue and decide she needs to see a vet and figure out what is going on. a few weeks pass and I email getting quotes from local vets. The vet she has been seeing is very worried and wants to see her right away.

We go, I will pay this out of pocket so I will let the ladies know as soon as we figure out what is going on. I bring up her breath and smell again, again he says its normal. He tests her blood, urine and looks her all over. We wait 2.5 hours for the rests of both the blood and urine. Her kidneys are failing, some of her results are in the 600's and they are supposed to be 150 etc. Her pancreas isn't working right and her sugar is high, she is also anemic. Okay so what now, he says he would normally recommend over night and fluid push but knows that for rescues money is tight. So he says fed her this, give her these pills, and this pump stuff on her food. Okay I can do that. He says the food I have her on is horrible food (Acana I know it is not vets have limited training on each food and push the one they get money from).

I message the ladies and let them know what is going on, I am in panic mode because leaving that vet made me feel like this is my fault. In all my years of dealing with vets I have never ever been made to feel that way. I don't understand what the hell I missed, how could I have missed this, how could multiple vet visits and 2 different vets have missed this. In my head and gut I know she is dying. "Missy" had a dog who died of kidney failure and as she is explaining symptoms Lexi has been like this since the day she came into care. Everything I passed off as normal or happening for this reason or another was a symptom.

Lexi has to head to the vet in Toronto for IV fluids and more testing to see what the cause is. I am broken, crying, angry, a big old mess. The next morning we head to Toronto and I have decided to get over myself, she needs me to be strong for her! With no idea how long she will be there or even at all I bring all my stuff and her stuff with me in case we are there a day or two or if she needs anything while we are there. The drive down we talk and she sits in the front with me, she is the perfect travel buddy, quite, relaxed and just enjoying the drive. We make a few pee breaks, she hates the cold as much as I do lol.

We get to the vet in Toronto, I showed him the results, I told him everything the vet here told me. He got down on the floor with her and loved her up. I brought up her breath and her smell. Right away he said no that isn't right at all I blurt out HA I AM NOT CRAZY!!! He looks at me funny, I explain then he gets it lol. He said he doesn't believe these results, a dog who looks as healthy and acting the way she is couldn't have these results. I explained that the vet here didn't believe she wasn't throwing up but she wasn't and hasn't been since Sept when she had the antitoxins.

He retested her blood (took about 10 mins), he was in shook. From the outside she looks healthy and normal from the inside she is dying. They decide she needs to stay for the fluid push and they will put her on antibiotics and send her urine away. This could be 1 of three things. Congenial, infection or Lepo. I go home leaving her behind feeling horrible that she has to stay in that place alone and scared, being poked and prodded. I knew in my heart that she wasn't going to get better but "missy" said they had to at least try. I get home I miss her so much, I am going over how I missed this over every moment of her life her. Each day I get an update. They find a heart murmur, in a normal dog IV fluids would not cause a heart murmur. In my head I am going yup its congenial. She has to go to "missy" for the night because the vet is having their Christmas party. They do testing that day and her markers have come down but only by a few points. They do an ultrasound and show "missy" She has one shriveled up kidney that does nothing and one kidney that is very large and missing parts. Well thats batting a thousand. Is it worth taking her back for 1 day or just bring her home because 3 days did pretty much nothing.

 She stays the night with "Missy" falls in love, of course who wouldn't she is perfect.  I pick her up from the vets office and they show me how to do the IV fluids at home. Lexi has about 6 months to live. She is all skin and bones all the weight she had put on is gone in a few days :(. We get home she isn't her self.

6 Months!!! She wont likely make it her second birthday, "Missy" says I am getting good at being a pawpice. Yup becoming an old pro. I am putting together her bucket list and making the next few months as amazing as possible.


A few days later Lexi has 3 major seizures 2 hours apart. She wont come out of her crate much and she never liked her crate, she would only go in it if she had too.





2 days later, she can barely walk, full body spasms when you touch her. Wont eat and wont drink.  I talk to everyone I have 2 options I can go that day or in a week, Lexi wont last a week.

That night Lexi dies, feeling no more pain.

Week 14. Fireworks!

The workbooks we are using this week are Morning starters that I got from Dollar Tree, My First Book Of Color Craze that I got from Collar Tree. The book we are reading this week is The Pig Can Fly by Scholastic.

This week requires a bit a of prep, mess and lots of changes of clothes.

Day 1:
Sight word "are" handmade flash cards, workbook, cut straw painting, ABC Mouse, book

Outing: Tumble Time at Bluewater Cheer Athletics

Day 2:
Sight word "are" worksheet, workbook, sponge painting, ABC mouse, book

Outing: Skate/Playgroup

Day 3:
Sight word "are" flash cards, workbook, toilet paper roll painting, ABC Mouse, book

Outing: Playgroup

Day 4:
Sight word "Are" hunt, workbook, coloured salt art, ABC mouse, book

Outing: skate/library

Day 5:
Sight word "are" worksheet, chalk art, ABC Mouse, book, workbook

Outing: Homeschool Chat and Play.

35 acts of kindness post 2

This month I decided we were going to do random acts of kindness for our bored activity. This means a lot of prep work for mom lol.

Our acts of kindness are:

Bus fare taped to bus stops
Money taped to washing machines
Homeless bags
Warm bags
Kindness rocks
Kindness bookmarks
Flowers to the people in a retirement home
Flowers to the hospice
Hold the door
Let someone go ahead of us in line
Donate a toy to the toy drive
Donate to Slavation Army
Bring homemade cookies to firehall
Bring homemade treats to our local shelter
Give out Candy Canes
Pass sticker to children in line
Christmas Door Bomb
Pick up trash on a walk
Change taped to a vending machine
Pay for someones tim hortons
Colouring books and Crayons to the hospital
Cookies for the neighbour
Donate food to the local shelter
Cards to soliders over seas
Kindness dinosaurs
$5.00 in a book with a note
Tims card to mailman
Tape quarters to the candy machines at the mall

Because of the size of this blog post I am going to make 2!

Give out candy canes

These will have sayings attached to them and we will give them out around town

Pass stickers to children in line

Waiting sucks as it is but waiting in line at Christmas is even worse. We are going to bring stickers when we go shopping and hand them to children in line behind us.

Christmas Door Bomb

This is a little gift bag with a gift in it left at a random door. 

Pick up trash on a walk

Another really easy one. Bring a bag when we walk the dogs and pick up trash along the way.

Change taped to a vending machine. 
 This is another simple one. You put change in tiny baggies and will tape them to vending machines in the hospital.

Pay for someones Tim Hortons

Another simple one. We will pay for the person behind us in line.


Colouring books and crayons to the hospital.

We will drop off colouring books and crayons to the childrens ward of the hospital.



Cookies for the neighbour

Another simple one. We will drop off a tin of homemade treats to our neighbour.

Donate food to the local shelter.



Once again it is simple. We will fill a bag with food and drop it off to the local shelter



Cards for soldiers over seas. 

This is another simple one. We will fill out a couple cards together and send them over seas for the holidays.

Kindness Dinosaurs

We will place dinosaurs around town with tags on them that say "I am not lost, I am yours. Happy Holidays"

$5.00 in a book with a note

We will put $5.00 in a random book at the library with a note inside.

Tims card to the mailman

 Another amazing person who doesn't get enough credit. So Blaine will be giving ours a tims cards.

Tape quarters to the candy machines in the mall

I never have change and feel bad when I get asked for .25 for the candy machine. So this year we will tape quarters to the candy machines in the mall.


Thats it thats all. They are really rather simple activities, it will just take me a little prep to get everything ready to go. 



 

Week 13 Christmas activities

Finishing up with the ABC sticker book we are moving onto My first book of colour craze its by flowerpot press and I am pretty sure I got it at Dollar Tree. Its another sticker book which helps break up the doing of the other school work.We are still using Morning starters an educational workbook that I likely got at Dollar Tree as well.

This week are reading the book Playful Puppies by scholastic.


Day 1:
Sight word "you" handmade flash cards, workbook, Christmas tree shape sort, ABC Mouse, book

Outing: Tumble time at Bluewater Cheer Athletics and Random Act Of Kindness

Day 2:

Sight word "you" worksheet, workbook, Christmas lights counting sheet, ABC Mouse, book

Outing: Skate/Playgroup and Random Act of Kindness

Day 3:

Sight word "you" flash cards, workbook, Christmas Sense of smell, ABC mouse, book

Outing: Playgroup and Random Act Of Kindness

Day 4:

Sight word "you" hunt, workbook, 5 little reindeer, ABC Mouse, book

Outing: Library and Random Act Of Kindness

For 5 little reindeer I found the song here.  Then I cut everything out of felt and made it an activity.

Day 5:

Sight word "you" worksheet, workbook, Gingerbread house, ABC Mouse, Book

Outing: Homeschool chat and play

Maybe your not cut out for this!

Maybe you are not cut out for this if your going to act like this every time one dies. Thats a first for me, I don't think anyone has ever said that to me.

The moment losing a foster, a fur baby, a life no matter how small doesn't get to me is the moment my life will end. No one should ever take losing a life be it human or a furbaby as “oh well”.

To many I appear cold, but those who truly know me, know that EVERY effects me. I hold it all together because I have to. Every dog I can not save, every child who is hurting because of others, I feel it ALL. Yes we can't save them all and yes there are worse things for these furbabies than death but it still hurts and you still feel it.

In rescue you see so much everyday, the lowest of humans and what they do to these furbabies. You see death, sorrow, pain, defeat and heartbreak.

Then you see the BEST of humans, you see everyone break down when they lose a furbaby or leave the shelter knowing they can only take so many, spending every last penny they have and begging for funds to help with the mountains of money to cover the cost of saving these babies. You see us holding that furbaby tears in our eyes, holding together just long enough to be strong for them as they cross the bridge then breaking down.

You see the furbabies come from dying defeated by humankind to loving life, learning to trust again and making leaps and bounds. You see a rescue person in tears of sorrow from losing one to tears of joy for one taking their first new steps or giving kisses for the first time.

When you are at your lowest you see the rescue people who stand behind you, to show a love and compassion that we normally only show to a select few humans and the furbabies, you see us show it to those who walk beside you in this mixed up world of animal rescue. You see them come together to support each other in the best ways they can.

What you will NEVER EVER see is us give up, you wont see is quit ( but maybe a break), you wont see us turn away a furbaby, you wont see us not try, and you wont see us leave a furbaby alone.

You will see us be strong for the next one who needs us. You will see us LOVE with a heart that has been broken more times then anyone would think possible. You will see us give our all and when we feel like we have nothing left to give another furbaby will come along and you will watch us give it all again.

A close friend in rescue who is far away in body said to me “They take a piece of your heart when they go, but give you a piece of theirs when they come.” She is beyond right, they all bring so much into your life and give you the ability to keep going.

We keep going because this isn't about us, its about them, they need us to keep going for them. Because for every dog we rescue there are 10 more waiting in shelters, being beaten in homes. There is always 1 more that needs us.

We may appear to be numb to many things death will never be one of them.

35 acts of kindness post 1 of 2

This month I decided we were going to do random acts of kindness for our bored activity. This means a lot of prep work for mom lol.

Our acts of kindness are:

Bus fare taped to bus stops
Money taped to washing machines
Homeless bags
Warm bags
Kindness rocks
Kindness bookmarks
Flowers to the people in a retirement home
Flowers to the hospice
Hold the door
Let someone go ahead of us in line
Donate a toy to the toy drive
Donate to Slavation Army
Bring homemade cookies to firehall
Bring homemade treats to our local shelter
Give out Candy Canes
Pass sticker to children in line
Christmas Door Bomb
Pick up trash on a walk
Change taped to a vending machine
Pay for someones tim hortons
Colouring books and Crayons to the hospital
Cookies for the neighbour
Donate food to the local shelter
Cards to soliders over seas
Kindness dinosaurs
$5.00 in a book with a note
Tims card to mailman
Tape quarters to the candy machines at the mall

Because of the size of this blog post I am going to make 2!


Bus fare taped to bus stops

This one is pretty easy. We put change in small, clear baggies with a note saying this ride is on us. We will attach them to 3 bus stops around town.


Money on washing machines

This is another easy one. We put change in small, clear baggies with a note saying this load is on us. We will attach them to washing machines in each laundry mat in our city.

Homeless bags

This one is a little harder and costs more. It cost us around $125.00 to do 5 bags. What you need to put in your bags will depend on your location.

In our bags we put:
Travel tooth paste
Tooth brush
Gloves
Comb
Hat
Small reusable water bottle filled with water
Protein Bar
Fuzzy peaches
Mints
Hard candies
Hair ties
Socks
Bandaids
Pads
Homemade cookies
Oranges
$5.00 bill and a Christmas Card

Everything is put into a nice water proof bag with handles.We will hand them out to the homeless that I know live on the streets.

Warm bags

This one is a little more time consuming on my end because I have decided to use up my yarn and make the items for these bags instead of buying them.

Each will contain a hat, scarf, and gloves. They will be put in water proof bags and stapled to lampposts downtown. Every time I have a set ready I will refill the bags until the end of winter.

Kindness rocks

These will placed all around town. They will have a picture that Blaine paints on the front and on the back they will have a saying. They will be clear coated so they can stand up to the elements.


Kindness bookmarks

These will be printed on card stock have a picture and saying on them. They will be handed out at our local library.


Flowers to people in the retirement home

We are going to buy a couple dozen single stem flowers from our local flower shop and hand them out to the people at the retirement home. They will have a ribbon and a saying tied to them.


Flowers to the hospice

This will be done the same as the retirement home but it will be given to the family members


Hold the door

This is something we do everyday but this time I am going to make an effort to each Blaine that this act of kindness goes a long.


Let someone go ahead of us in line

We do this often for people who have fewer items than us, but this time I am going to make a point in showing Blaine that they have less stuff than us so we are going to let them go ahead.


Donate a toy to the toy drive.

Blaine is going to pick out a toy that he feels a boy or girl would like and then put it in the toy donation bin.


Donate to the Salvation Army

Blaine is going to put money into the bucket for them at the mall and I will explain what the money is used for.


Homemade treats to the fire hall

Our firefighters never get enough credit. They are always on scene first and take care of not only fires but medical as well. We will be taking homemade treats to all three of our fire halls.


Homemade treats for our local shelter.

Our shelter will not take treats that are not packaged but we can hand them out to people in line who are waiting to go in for food.

Week 12: Arting it up with preschool!

I know I am off on my blog posts so I am starting from this week for the homeschool posts, yes we do home school every day but the laptop tends to give me a headache when I sit at it for any length of time so I am keeping it short until the brain injury heals.

Week 12 (it is actually the last week in Nov. but we are calling it the first week in our Dec. for home school purposes)
This week is all about art appreciation. This is exciting for me because I love ALL forms of art, not so sure how exciting it will be for Blaine but we will work on it.
The workbooks we are using is the Morning Starters educational workbook, I think I got it at dollar tree, and we are almost finished with the My First Book Of A,B,C Letters.
I don't post it in my posts but I really should. We also read 1 book during school time and this week that book is At the zoo by scholastic. We read it each day with him reading the words that he knows.

We are also going 35 acts of kindness for our bored this month.





Day 1:

Sight word "with" handmade flash cards, workbook, learning about Michelangelo, paint like Michelangelo, ABC mouse, book

Outing: Grandbend Museum 

 Day 2:

Sight word "with" worksheet, workbook, learning about Monet, paint like Monet, ABC mouse, book

Outing: Playgroup/Skating

 Day 3:

Sight word "with" flash cards, workbook, ABC mouse, book

Outing:  The local art Gallery

Day 4:

Sight word "with" hunt, workbook, learn about Picasso, paint Picasso faces, ABC mouse, book.

Outing: Skate/Playgroup

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/0d/07/480d07bdbdb4f814fd76124b10469e51.jpg

Day 5:

Sight word "with" flash cards, workbook, perfect squares, ABC mouse, book

Outing: DeGroots centre pieces.

If it wasn't for bad luck!

As the doctor at the hospital so kindly told me, "if it wasn't for bad luck, you wouldn't have any"
A few weeks ago the hatch let go on the back of my SUV and smacked me square in the side of my head (the same side the I feel on the concrete floor and gave myself a brain injury almost 2 years ago). I of course wait until the next hoping the I would feel better, nope that just not how things go for me. 

The hospital was fun I get there around 5pm. My head killing me, can barely stand or walk from the pain and dizziness. It takes 45 mins to get seen by triage, who kept asking me questions I didn't understand and then getting mad at me. After that they park me in a wheel chair in the waiting area. Where it is bright, loud and I want to die. I am in and out of sleep. Wanting to go home. 5 hours later I am seen by the doctor who sends me for a cat scan. They see no noticeable bleeds or fractures. He tells me its a minor brain injury, take Tylenol and go to bed. I spent 6 hours in unbearable pain for you to tell me that?

 Thank god I remember vaguely what to do from the last one. Very limited screen time, sleep when you need to, etc, etc.

I of course call my sports injury doctor and he gets me in right away. We go over everything he does a few tests on me to see where I am at. He is mad once again Sarnia hospital has let me down. He says its a serious injury and major concussion. He goes over everything I need to do and I see him again in a week. I call my family doctor....He is on vacation. I need to get into him ASAP so I can go to London to see the specialist. I finally get a hold of him and make an apt. It is for almost a month after the injury.

I wish you could see the brain injury on the outside. I wish people understood instead of just brushing it off. My family when I told them just said okay, they have no clue. My sister asked me to bake her a cake. Which I did but forgot to decorate it until the afternoon she needed it.

Things are different this time. I don't feel drunk which is nice, but the head pain and head aches are 100X's worse. I don't sleep as much as I did the first time even to the point where I can't sleep at times. I can't taste, this is hard to explain lol I can taste like thats sweet, thats sour etc but I can not taste things like the difference between one sour thing and the next. Everything tastes funny. I have zero appetite to the point I can go days without eating and not notice. My memory sucks. Looking at screens sucks. Trying to get client orders done sucks. I haven't cook since it happened because by the time dinner time comes I am spent and in the mornings I forget to put the stuff in the crock pot. Reading text on a screen is very hard and near impossible is there is a lot in one area, proof reading my blog posts is a nightmare.

Blaine is amazing like always. We had to leave gymnastics early the one day because the lights and everything going on was too much and he said it was okay. If I need to lay down for a few mins he says "its okay mom, rest your head" How is that a 4 year is more understanding and compassionate than grown people?

My to do list is 6 miles long and keeps growing. I do what I can to get through it but I need to let my brain heal, because I know when it does there will be another "new me" at the end. The last one changed me big time and this one is going to change me, again. Lol maybe I will be super hero this time around.

Time heals all including the brain. I just need to remember to slow down and let it do what it needs to.

Its been 3 weeks and some things have improved, but lots have remained the same. Like my ability to read at my normal speed and level, counting without thinking lol. Things we all take for granted and I am relearning how to do.

Week 8: Learning!

Week 8 started out just as planned and finished we me getting a severe head injury with a severe concussion yeah head injury # 2!!!


I also did get many photos because I didn't have a phone for a while as I was waiting for a new battery to come.

Blaine had a blast learning about frogs and the life cycle. Not a fan of touching anything wet and slimy but loved the learning part.

He caught on to the sight word my very quickly and now knows the sight words "see, we, my, I, can".

Blaine is learning so fast, and catching most things I throw at him. He can now tell you his name first and last, my name first and last, his age, his birth date, his dads name first and last, what city we live in, our house number and street and my phone number! The phone number is the only new one we have been working on learning the rest since he was two and as he would learn one I would add another. Learning these are so important just in case anything were to happen to him or to me.

He can count to 50, getting so much better at tracing letters and numbers, he even got wet in the water table at play group and didn't freak out.

I can't really write much on how the week went because my memory is a tad fuzzy in places. But all in all it was a good week.

Foster: GUS

What a mess he was/is! Gus came into care from a post on facebook of someone seeing a dog in a field for a few days and no one could get near him without him growling and showing teeth. Of course tag me in it because EVERYONE knows what I am going to do. I send a quick message to the head of Bullies In Need and explain I can't just leave him there, knowing that we feel the same way about animals I didn't wait for her response. I loaded up and headed out.

As I am driving up the country road I see a dog walking up the side of the road. I slowly pull over he runs, so I slowly follow to see where he is going to go. He heads up a long drive way past a house that looks empty and back past an old barn. I come to the end of the driveway. Gather my supplies, Tim bits, Hotdogs, bags of dog treats and a container of water for him.

High corn and grass prevent me from seeing where he is so I just talk out loud to him, at least we think its a him, please don't be a her with puppies is one of the things I say to him. Hoping the whole field isn't high corn I come to a little hill. Well I am short this only helps slightly, but I can see him and thank goodness its soybeans!!!

I talk to him and toss a few broken pieces of hot to him and sit down on this prepared to wait until he decides to come to me. As I sit quietly suddenly I feel pinches, what the hell!!! Stand up thinking something is poking shit, he was right there and I spooked him, back to his hiding spot. I brush off and sit back down, more pinches, what is going on!!! I stand up again and take a better look around, only I would sit on a freaking bity ant hill while trying to save a dog.

Okay change of plans. I talk to the dog and walk out to the field and closer to where he is throwing hotdogs and pieces of tim bits. By the way we are about 2 hours in at this point. I sit down near his "safe" spot and talk and put food in a line towards me and my hand out. Now I sit quite I don't move he comes to me and lays down in front of me! He is eating food from my hand!!!! this is awesome!!!

Car noise who is that? who is here. I tell him I will be right back. I head out to see who is there. The people who posted for their parents awww sweet they want to help. I appreciate their kindness and thoughts but in the back of my head hoping they haven't just reset the last 2 hours of work.

I go back to where I was he is not happy he growls and shows his teeth I throw a piece of hot dog at his nose and tell him thats is enough of that you were just eating from my hand and letting me pet your chin. So I sit down with the bucket of water for him and show him its safe. It takes about 5 mins for him to realize what it is but once he does he drinks for a good 3 mins straight.

okay its been about 3 hours at this point, he is letting me pet his chin and eat out of my hand, time to see if I can lead him out of this soy bean field. So with a trail of food he follows slowly at first with a distance between us and then he is right at my heals. We get to my SUV and I open all the doors, hoping against all hope I can get him in. Suddenly another car pulls up, my thoughts are SERIOUSLY I JUST GOT HIM THIS FAR!!! But this car doesn't pull all the way up it stays back a bit. Out comes a women, the dog takes off for the house but doesn't run away. Hes checking all the doors (how heart breaking) Marianne and I talk she tells me who she is, she works with rescues to help catch loose animals and also families catch missing animals. She has a whole cooked chicken and blankets and I am greatful because I have run out of treats and still unable to get him looped.

He comes close once again and lays just out of reach eating chicken and cookies, I still cant get him looped. Its getting dark, he is still going to the doors over and over again. We check the barn its full of crap, I check the house its full of totes and boxes. As we do this he follows all around not letting me too far out of his sight. Marianne checks with the people across the road they own the house we have been told. They are not home.

Still can't get him looped. Its dark I can't leave him alone but not sure what I am going to do at this point. Steve is in the area someone else in rescue who has bullies, he this it could be one his that went to forever home. He comes and verifies it is not his. He helps me get him looped and into the truck.

Thank god for these two people or I may not have gotten him that night, it might have been the next day.

I get him home and into the back room with water and blankets where he can chill out. I take him out a few times in the night to pee and sniff the yard. He barely leaves my side.

The next day I go into feed him and get a better look at him. He is covered in scabs and infected scabs from his hind legs all the way to the middle of his back. His collar is on so tight it is digging into his skin.

We get in touch with the owners of the rental unit, the people who lived there moved out two years ago, they have been feeding "gus" they have a dog too that "gus" has been going over and playing with. We contact the people who rented the house and still a week later haven't heard anything back.

Over the week (so far) that he is here, he lets me tend to his wounds and he slowly comes out of his shell. He has two baths and lets me gentle bush him out everyday to help with the scabs. He finally meets Bossco and Lexi after seeing them while they were in there crates and through a gate for a few days then he met one at a time and only for short periods of time. Now he loves them, he loves Blaine. He is so scared of men to the point where he just looked at Richard and peed everywhere, showed his teeth and growled. So we did this slowly with lots of treats and a gate between them until Gus trusted him enough to get close. He gives him kisses and snuggles now but still if he moves to quickly it freaks Gus out. Every sound freaks him out. He had his first walk with us as a group and did awesome. Before his bath I would have said he was 4, after his bath and him letting me look at his teeth I would put him 7+. He has SOOOO many broken teeth :(

He is learning everyday, yes even old dogs can learn new tricks! mainly by watching the other dogs and paying attention to what I say to them and what they do he has learned "out", "sit", "leave it".

His skin is healing nicely almost all his scabs and sores are healed up. Only a few left on his tail. His hair is growing back. Gus gets to go to the vet tomorrow where he will be checked for microchip (just in case) and have a full look over.

A week later he is very hand shy but will let me put my had in his food dish while he eats, every noise spokes him, too much movement spokes him, he hates being outside for more than a few mins (who blames him tho), he is in a crate when no one is home because he has separation anxiety and it is for his safety as well. No accidents so far in the house other than when he peed everywhere because he met Richard. He now eats in the same area as the other dogs with no issues, he takes treats while sitting next to them no issues.  In just a week he has made leaps and bounds and I couldn't be prouder of him.


***PLEASE REMEMBER DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO READ BODY LANGUAGE TRYING TO GET A DOG TO TRUST YOU CAN BE DANGEROUS, CONTACT A RESCUE, YOUR LOCAL ANIMAL CONTROL OR SHELTER FOR HELP***

Once he is fully healed and has worked on over coming his past he will be ready for his forever home.



 

Week 8: The proposal

Nov!! New month, new units, new adventures to be had!!!

We are using workbooks My first book of ABC letters and Morning starters an educational workbook PreK.

Last month we did the thankful tree which turned out amazing if it would have just stayed on the freaking all. This month we are going ALL ABOUT ME! this mean he has to come up with things about him such as likes, dislikes, physical features, strengths and weakness, etc. It should be a lot of fun!

This week is our frog unit, how exciting!

Week 8
Day1
Frog Life cycle book, workbook, sight word my, ABC mouse.
Outing: Gymnastics


I cut out frog shapes to make the book and made sure there were enough pages to to do the whole life cycle. He made the eyes for the book because I couldn't find my googly eyes. I printed off photos of the life cycle of the frog and he had to paste them in the book in the right order and in his words explain that stage of the life cycle.


Sight words where flash cards I made myself.

Gymnastics is always a blast and is done at bluewater cheer




Week 8
Day 2
5 Little frogs felt bored, Workbook, Wight word my, ABC mouse.
Outing: Music and Move

I hand cut 5 frogs, 1 log, 1 pond from felt for the felt bored and we did the song 5 little speckled frogs with him taking one off and saying how many were left.



Music and move is put on my St.clair Child and Youth






Week 8
Day 3
Frog life cycle work sheets, workbook, sight word my, ABC mouse.
Outing: Marsh to look for frogs


The work sheet I found here.



The wet lands around the pounds is always a great place to try and spot frogs.







Week 8
Day 4
Frog VS toad video, workbook, sight word my, ABC Mouse.
Outing: Skating


The frog video I found here is perfect for preschool and can be found here. I paused the video when she asked questions so he had time to answer.


Week 8
Day 5
How many frogs to sink a lily pad, workbook, sight word my, ABC mouse.
Outing: Chat and Play

I cut a lily pad from paper and 1 from card stock and he is to guess which will sink first and how many frogs it will take to sink each one.

Chat and Play is a homeschool get together for kids and parents, it is done weekly.

Week 6: truth!

We are about 1/4 of the way through the "school" year and he is learning things so quickly and loving every minute of out! The only time he complains about doing school work is when his father is around.

We still are having issues with the sight word "the" but the rest are pretty much down pat!!!


Starting our day at 5am sucks horribly and is never ever my first choice. I don't sleep well at night and would much rather stay in bed until 8 especially now that the cold is here. I am lucky enough that he will go help his dad get ready for work and then come back and snuggle with me for a while before hes had enough and I have to get up. The bonus is most days we have our book work done before 9am which means we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want. It is also nice that playgroup opens at 9am, sucks I can't bring my tea in there but he loves it.

There is so much to see and do at the earlyOn centres its amazing and I am so grateful that they are there for our children.

Mondays are normally well Mondays but today there is a little more excitement as I rescued a dog in rough shape last night so he was more interested in the dog than most other thing lol.
We did our school work done and that is about all school related things we did as we had to take care of Gus wounds.

Home Depot day arrived and it was a blast except I decided to school work after the home depot and well this was a bad idea because Blaine likes things in a certain order so it caused school not to go perfect but we got through it just fine! Because we did things out of order we ended up doing a sight word work sheet as well I didn't hide any sight words....oops...oh well there is always tomorrow.

I went to Functions of Behaviour, I learned a lot I also learned that centres that help children really need to get on bored with each other and figure out which research they are going to use also updates to that research help a lot. I did learn many things I didn't know before and I loved the instructor. It has given me a different way to collect data for the OT in Blaines life and this will better help him in the long run.  Going to the seminar was just showed me I am doing the right thing by homeschooling Blaine. None of the schools, staff or support staff are equipped to help those who need it the most. Many can't even tell you what a sensory issue is.


Wednesday are supposed to be my work day but as bad days go this one SUCKED!!! We got our school work done and even took Gus for his first walk. ABC mouse wasn't working so we tried it for a little bit then gave up.

Well we didn't get any seated school work done but we did the music and dance Halloween party and then Homeschool chat and play in the afternoon. Because I didn't work yesterday that means I have to work today and because we get back late and didn't have time this morning no seat work for Blaine but thats okay, there is always tomorrow.

Friday we made lungs from bags and straws. He had a blast! We also went to the mcdonalds playplace so he could play and I could fill out paper work for the rescue fundraiser.

2018 a year in rescue!

I figured I might as well do this now as Gus will likely be the last foster of this year that crosses my doorway. I whole heartly believe every dog enters my life for a reason.

Christy!!!

Christy was an owner surrender and my first foster in a long time. She was sweet, smart, full of life and energy! Her and Blaine were quite the pair getting into EVERYTHING all the time lol. She came into my life to remind me that I still needed to this, I still need to open my heart and door those animals that were not longer wanted by their families. Christy reopened my heart, my home and showed me Blaine need this too!


Heart break comes like tea in the morning to those in rescue.

Donny and Cherry came to me so broken that Donny was only with us for a day. Cherry was with us until it was her time. These two tiny spirits showed me that I am strong enough to do this again. That I am strong enough to love them until they don't need me anymore. Strong enough to get through anything, including losing two sweet souls who only knew peace and love a short time but will never be alone alone again.






In December I lost my world, my heart dog, the boy who had been with me through everything! I swore I would never love a dog in the same again and its true I wont!

Lexi the Cat Dog who has so many face wrinkles she looks liek the stuffed toy "wrinkles" I had as a kid. EVERYONE suited up in their capes for this one. She came in a hurry and with her she stole my heart. She is tiny compared to what I am used to that is for sure but only in stature not in muscle, heart of brains. Lexi LOVES Blaine. She has stolen a place in my heart I didn't think I had left after losing ACE, she has shown me a I can love in a similar way again. No dog will ever replace Ace, but she sure is trying on his shoes. Lexi is still here and I haven't fully decided what I am going to do about her. She is a perfect dog minus having to have her lady bits washed 3-4 times a day, special stuff on her food and leaking when she sleeps. All because her lady bits are hanging out far further than what they should be. Poor sweet pie, but even with those issues she is still loved.


As most people will tell you, when it comes to animals I don't think I just react. Which is how I ended up with 8 fosters, pregnant and Richard working in Alberta lol.

Yes that is a dog in a field. You might not be able to see him but he was there. Gus was a post in a group that I was tagged in so of course I loaded up and went to get him. I will have a post about just him so I wont go into too much detail about his story here. Gus came into my to teach me patience and to show me that I still will never give up on an animal no matter how unhappy they are in that moment with me. To show me that waiting is just the beginning of the rainbow!!!


Every rescue teaches us something new, shows us something we didn't know was within us. From your heart breaking for those you saved past and what they have been though to your heart breaking once again to see them off to their forever home everyone in rescue knows by best that our hearts are our strongest muscle and will always heal despite the scars.


Those in rescue remember you are needed, you are loved and no matter how hard the day, week, month YOU have made a difference! YOU are making a difference!!

Week 7: The grand Desgin

Coming up with new and creative ways to title my home school posts is actually kind of fun!!

Week 7 is going to be a relaxed week because I need to get things organized for a recuse fundraising event and there are a few things that a fellow homeschooler and I were discussing that we would like to see offered in our area so I am going to see about planning some of that.

We only have 1 page left in our Usborne Get ready for school first numbers sticker book so we will be moving onto a new workbook My first book of A,B,C, Letter. I got this book from Dollar tree.
We are still using the Morning Starters book, which I also got from Dollar Tree. This week is an exciting week we are going to start doing science experiments using the The Usborne BIG book of Experiments! I got this book from Value Village. I am normally not a huge fan of that store but their books are a great price!!!


Week 7
Day 1:

In the fall work sheet which I found here, sight word we, workbook and ABC Mouse.

Sight word "we" is done with home made flash cards and using the sight words we have already learnt in between.

Outing: Gymnastics at Bluewater Cheer  He is going to be excited to be back. our instructor was away for 2 weeks so it will be our first day back!


Day 2:
Fall guess whats in the bag, sight word we, work book, ABC Mouse.

Fall guess whats in the bag has us putting our hands in bags of items like apples, leaves, pine cones, sticks, etc and guessing what is in each bag!

Sight work "we" worksheet came from here.

Outing: Skating

Day3:

Sticky Paper tree, sight word we, workbook, ABC mouse

Sticky paper is just contact paper that you can get at the dollar store. I am going to draw an out line of a tree on it and we are going on a nature hut to find things outside to "make" our tree with.

Sight word we worksheet I can't remember where I got it so I will just include it below.

We are going to do our experiment this day. It is Testing the water: Needle on the water






Day 4

Fall scented play doh, wight word we, workbook, ABC Mouse

We are going to make fall scented play doh together. I found a recipe here that we are going to try.


Sight word hunt is so much fun and he is engaged the whole tiem.



Day 5

Pumpkin counting, sight word we, workbook, ABC Mouse

We are going to do a pumpkin counting worksheet which I found here.

Sight word we is just more hand made flash cars.

We have another fun Halloween party to attend for our outing! and we have the homeschool chat and play in the afternoon.

Home Depot Homeschool day!

20 kids + 2 pieces of plywood on top of buckets + 20 hammers + 20 buckets being used as seat for this plywood table = dear god who thought hammers were a good idea.

All in all it was great! It was a great group of kids and a great group of parents!

The instructor was Katie and we was so sweet, kind and even helped a few of the moms who had more than one child with them. We built book ends the whole thing took about 20 mins. The kids had a blast, the parents had headaches and everyone had bookends.

Blaine loved it, he of course looked at the directions and got to work before she said go, so here I am saying no no you need to wait and here she is saying no hes doing it just the way its supposed to go, its okay.

As always we do things fast and this includes sitting and building something, but hey Sarah was there so I didn't feel alone because her children need to do things fast too.

The other parents were happy about it as well and enjoyed doing it with their children.

We have another one set up for next month because this one filled up so freaking fast. I mean within 10 mins of posting it the event was full.

Do you like to build things with your children? Do you allow your children to use tools?

Pinterest! Coconut Banana bread

I made a few changes when I made this which I will mention as we go along. This is a good recipe although not my favourite.

Blaine helped me out with making it, he loves to be in the kitchen cooking, baking and just being helpful, still can't get him to touch anything with his hands but thats okay. Everything in its own time.

Full recipe and directions found here!!


Ingredients:

1/2 vanilla yogurt
1 egg
3 over ripe banana's
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. (I used canola oil and I only had 2.5 tablespoons left in the bottle lol)
1 1/3 cup of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon if salt (I forgot to add this oops)
1/2 chopped pecans (I used 1/4 cup)
1/2 coconut (I only had unsweetened and I used 1/4 cup)
(I added 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips)

Preheat your oven to 350 (I do mine at 325 because my oven runs hot)
Grease a 9*5 loaf pan (I sprayed mine with pam)

In a bowl mash the banana's
Mix in the vanilla yogurt, egg, oil

In a separate bowl mix all your dry stuff.

Combine both bowls together until moist but don't over mix.

(I put all the wet stuff in my kitchen aid mixer, then I slowly added the dry stuff until it was all mixed)

Topping:
3 tablespoons of flour
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of coconut
3 tablespoons of chopped pecans

make into a crumble in a bowl

(This didn't work for me, it turned into a paste so I said screw it and added quick oats until it turned into a crumble)

Bake in the oven for 55-65 mins (Mine took 75 mins because I was doing it at lower temp so it wouldn't burn)

Week 6 Strategy

Exploring our bodies is this weeks unit!

This weeks workbooks are the same as last weeks which are Usborne first numbers and morning starters.

Week6
Day1
Matching Body parts, Sight word see, workbook, ABC mouse.

Matching Body parts I found the cards here . I have them all printed and cut we will be taping them to my body in the right positions.

Handmade flash cards once again for the sight work "See"

Outing: Play group

Week6
Day 2
Body part find, sight word hunt "see", workbook, ABC mouse

Body part find is about me saying the body part and him locating the where on his body it is.
I am using the same cards from the day before.

Sight word hunt is me placing sticky notes all over the house with the sight words we have learnt so far and then he has to go around and find only the word "see".

Outing: Homeschool home depot day, book club

Week6
Day 3

Tracing out bodies, sight word "see", workbook, ABC mouse

We are going to trace each other on giant paper and then label the body parts.

I can't remember where I got the sight word work sheet but I will include it below.
 
Outing:  preschool reading at the library

Week 6
Day 4

Dem bones with actions, sight word "see", Workbook, ABC Mouse.

Dem bones lyrics I found and printed from here.

Sight word is another work sheet that I can't remember where I found so I will just post it below.

Outing: Skating at our local arena and Homeschool chat and play.

Week 6
Day 5:

Paper bag lungs, sight word "see", workbook, ABC Mouse

I found the idea on pinterest to make lungs out of a paper bag in order to show how they work.

Homemade flash cards for sight word "see"

Outing: Forest school

Week 5 reality!

Monday was thanksgiving this meant everyone was home and the girls were here. So we did our school work early before the girls got here and that was a fight at first because dad is home and well apparently when dad is home that means he suddenly hates doing school work but we got through it. We did our outing with the girls. It was just a walk around the block collecting leaves to put in our paper bags, the poor girls didn't even make it half way around the block before they were complaining they were tired lol. We got back and started to sort the leafs, the girls had no interest and that is okay so Blaine and I did his bag, what we noticed was we have a million trees around but mostly they are a variety of maple tree lol. It was fun none the less. We had to move our thankful tree to above the table bosscos tail kept taking it off the door and ruining it, but its growing. I love seeing what he comes up with each day.

Tuesday we had our Nature Walk with St.Clair child and youth it was just a walk around the neighborhood near their college street location. We looked for things on our list and found all of them. He had a blast, I was hot.
We got all of our school work finished without a fight and even for a bunch of our learning path finished in ABC Mouse. He retains so much from learning it is crazy. We did leaf rubbing on our work sheet today and he said "just like at forest school mom" he even remember ALL of the parts of the leaf without help.



Leaf painting with a child who hates to get messy is something else lol. He did great though but only did a few and that was that. We seem to have the word "can" down pat already which is very exciting and he did his school work with no issues at all.

Because we have the homeschool trip to korny korners on Friday the homeschool chat and play had to be moved to Thursday which makes the day a tight squeeze as we normally do all of our shopping on Thursdays as well. He loves the chat and play with the homeschool kids and they mainly get along great. I have noticed a big difference between children who attend school and those who are homeschooled in their personalities and interactions with each other.

We had a blast at Korny Korners with all the homeschool kids. Even got a pumpkin. He tried putt putt

Week 5: The PLAN!!!

I really need to come up with a better title for those plan blog post but I am not sure what I should call them. Any ideas?

Week 5
Day 1:

Leaf Hunt and sort, sight word "Can", workbook, ABC mouse.

Outing: Park

I really love making my own flash cards for the sight words as they can be alter to what our needs are. These ones for today say "Can", "I", "Like", "The", "And".

For our leaf hunt and sort. We have a paper bag and we went for a walk around the block to fill our bag with different leaves that we seen on the ground only, no picking.

http://laurengregorydesign.com/projects/morning-starters-workbook/

Our workbooks this week are the Usborne first numbers and stickers as well as Pre K morning starters by The clever factory which I got at Dollar Tree.






Week 5
Day 2:

Parts of a leaf worksheet, sight word "can", workbook, ABC mouse.

Outing: 4-6 year olds book club and nature walk with st.clair child and youth centre




The leaf worksheet that I found from this website!



Sight word "can" worksheet here.


This is will be our second attempt at book club! We are going!




Week 5
Day 3:

Leaf Painting, Sight word match, workbook, ABC mouse.

Outing: Kids discovery and gathering leaves


Leaf painting will be with leaves we gather on another walk around and finger paints.

Sight word match I made myself and its just using the flash cards! Just make sure you have pairs of each word.


Kids discover is put on by the EarlyON centres.

Week 5
Day 4:

5 Little leaves, sight word "can", workbook, ABC mouse

Outing: Skating and homeschool chat and play

This is the sight word sheet I used.

5 Little leaves poem I found here. I cut the leaves, bird, tree, and bug out of felt for the felt board.


Skating is done at the local arena and it is free and mainly little guys which is awesome for learning!

Homeschool chat and play is done at a different park or location each week and I am not sure which one I am going to choose this week.


Week 5
Day 5:

Leaf Letter Match, sight word "can", workbook, ABC mouse

Outing: Homeschool group Korny Korners

Leaf letter match I found here I just printed them in black and white instead of colour as its just matching letters not colours.

The sight word "can" is just a colour page.

Our outing will be at korny korners with the homeschool group. We will do a hay ride, pick a pumpkin, play in bounce houses, see animals, do a corn maze and just have an all around blast!

Pinterest!!! Jalapeño popper dip!

I have tired this recipe before and loved it, not sure why I didn't blog about it back them.

This is a must try recipe, let is cool a little bit before eating it. It is also super simple for those OMG I need to bring something for the pot luck moments. It takes about 30 minutes start to finish

Full recipe and directions can be found here
Recipe:

1 jar of jalapenos drained and rinsed and chopped.
1 brick of cream cheese soft
1 cup of sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of shredded parm cheese (I didn't have this so I used mozzarella just as good!)

Topping:
4 table spoons butter (melted)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used seasoned because that is what I happened to have on hand)
1 cup shredded parm cheese (I didn't have this so I used the stuff in the can you put on pasta)

Simple directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all 5 top ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Spread in a 9*13 casserole dish (I used my round one because it was what I had right there)

Mix the next 3 ingredients in a bowl and until crumbled. Spread over the top of the dip.

Place in oven for 15-20 mins

Let cool

Enjoy!!!