Introducing Duke

Drum roll, please...
Here he is...Duke the Dog. (He came with the name. I think it's ridiculous, but what can you do.) He seems to be a little camera shy, so this is the best I could get today.

He is a 2 year old, 94 pound, pure black lab. We've had him for slightly over 24 hours and he's been great. So much better than the last dog experience. The Duke was not warmly received by the Queen (aka Emily the Cat) but that should get straightened out soon, I think. The Queen seems to be emerging as the pack leader, much to the husband's dismay.

For anyone who may be interested in adopting a rescue dog, I'm glad to provide info about the great rescue organization that we worked with.

Thank you...

to Auntie Paige, for making this picture possible.

Quote

I read this quote earlier this week. I can't remember where...I blame the short term memory loss associated with MS. In fact, I blame it for a lot of things I forget. Handy sometimes. ;-)

Anyway, I've been chewing on it all week and thinking about how true it has been in my life. And then trying to think about how it applies to my children. Convicting, yet helpful.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

Shrimp Dip

I hadn't made this recipe in a really long time, but then I got to talking with some friends about chip dip, and suddenly I got a hankerin' for it. Really yummy and super simple!

1 can Campbell's cream of shrimp soup
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp lemon juice
garlic powder to taste
dash paprika

Blend until smooth. (Don't overbeat, it gets thin.) Chill. (It's better if it sits for a couple of hours.) Try not to eat all in one sitting.

Conflicted

We've been in something of a financial quandary for awhile now. We need a larger capacity vehicle, we need to pay off the loan for J-Man's adoption, and we need to fund a new treatment for him. All of these things require roughly the same amount of money, give or take a couple thousand dollars. If you'll notice, I listed three things. We've accumulated enough money to pay for one of them. Therefore the quandary.

So I mentioned in my last post that we had decided to buy a used minivan instead of a new Traverse. While this is a blow to my vanity, it does free up the money earmarked for the monthly car payment to pay for that treatment for J-Man. So now we can afford two things.

And then my parents told us that they are giving us their used minivan as a Christmas present. And while this is a complete answer to our prayers (because now we can afford all three of the aforementioned things) and I'm totally grateful to my parents, my pride has now joined my vanity in loser-ville. I never, ever thought, back when we were filling out adoption paperwork, that I would turn into a charity case. A humbling experience, to say the least.

It's become a constant struggle within myself to not blame J-Man for our financial difficulties. Intellectually, I know that I made the decision to take out that loan for the adoption, and I made the choice to make him part of our family. And yet, he's the one standing in front of me, sucking down every available penny we have (and quite a few that we don't...good-bye 401K, it was nice knowing you) and then telling me how much better the orphanage was because they had more toys. (Can you say fairytale? I sure can.) It's hard to sacrifice so much for so little. It goes against human nature.

But back to the part about God answering prayer. He did indeed. In a way that I never expected. (I was secretly hoping that a winning lottery ticket would magically appear in my mailbox. I suppose that would have been too easy.) I'm working to climb back out of the pit of self-pity and focus on the blessing. And stay hopeful that this treatment for J-Man (that we can now afford) will be the breakthrough that we're looking for.

Random News

So technically I wrote this post and took the pictures last week. I just hadn't found the time to edit the pictures and put it all together. So, while the news might be a little dated, it was in fact news at one time.

First, let me just say a big THANKS! to my cousin who made these beautiful hats for my kids. They love them. I caught Little K wearing hers in the front yard along with her shorts and sandals. No really, the neighbors don't think we're nuts. Why do you ask?



Big K went to the orthodontist to get the Herbst appliance off her teeth. You can check back to my post on September 21 of last year to see the HUGE amount of progress she's made. You know, if you're really interested in seeing some kid's crooked teeth. I had completely forgotten how much work needed to be done. She gets a couple of weeks off and then she'll get more brackets and new wires.



We're still on the hunt for a dog. I've narrowed it down to a Mastiff (100-200 lbs) or a Pug (15-25 lbs). I can't decide if I want a small pony or a large woodchuck in my house. Of course, the husband is not so on board with those options. So we'll probably end up with an over-the-hill golden retriever who's too old to get into much trouble. Seriously.

The never-ending shell game in my small house continues. Big K has moved out of the bedroom she previously shared with Little K, and into the room that I previously called my storage/sewing room. How did I accomplish that? Four large garbage bags, one trip to the Salvation Army, five bins of clothes to a consignment sale, three trips into the crawl space, and two boxes of books to the used book store. One new bedroom...priceless. For a few days at least...until we start buying stuff for the room.

The husband brought home an Acadia to try out for a few days. Whereupon we discovered that, while it was a really nice vehicle, I still spent a lot of my time turned around trying to get the kids to stop fighting. So we've come to the conclusion that we could solve our space problem with a much cheaper used minivan that doesn't solve the fighting issue instead of an expensive new vehicle that doesn't solve the fighting issue. I had hoped to completely skip the minivan stage of life. Sigh.

New Doctor

I went to a new doctor yesterday to discuss my MS. This guy came highly recommended, and I've waited for 7 months to see him. He does not participate with any insurance, which is why he was able to sit and talk with me for an hour. (Yes, I said an hour.) He even seemed to be listening! He looked through all my previous test results and told me which ones where crap (Some of which I already knew.) and then ordered several more tests. He told me to drink a lot of water the morning I go for the blood draw, since they'll be taking about 12 vials. (Yes, I said 12 vials.)

Can I tell you what a relief it is to see a doctor who actually listens to me? To see a doctor who orders the tests that I've wanted done for over a year? All I wanted was a stinkin' allergy test and some additional Lyme and thyroid testing. Why was that so hard? Am I not the customer? When I go into a restaurant and order, I expect that the waiter will bring me what I want. In this case, the waiter (doctor) essentially told me that what I wanted wasn't necessary, and I could have a big, fat plate of toxic chemicals instead. Yummy!

I'm really glad that practitioners like this new one are out there. However, it seems that, even though we have insurance, we're paying out of pocket more and more for health care. Because the really good providers and the cutting edge treatment facilities don't want to play games with the insurance company. And I can't say that I blame them. I don't like dealing with them, either.