9 GREAT-GRANDPUPPIES!!!

They finally arrived, although a bit reluctantly . . . . .

Seven boys, two girls . . .

Mama Disney was so very tired. Two puppies were born naturally, then the doctor intervened with a c-section because the progress was so slow. She had to endure labor, birth, surgery, then there were 9 hungry mouths to feed!!

The puppies have to be fed every two hours, so there's formula to mix and bottles to wash.

Hunter was beside herself all week, waiting for their arrival. She, of course, wants to keep all of them!!

STILL WAITING FOR PUPPIES!

Hi, Everybody! Still no puppies! :( I'm at Ryanne's house right now, waiting for the happy moment. Poor girl is so miserable, we thought surely she would have the puppies this past weekend. But, alas, she's holding onto them as long as she can.

I apologize that my posts have been few and far between, and I've also focused more on the fur kids in our family than my crochet. I've been side-tracked, to say the least. My computer took a power surge early last week, and I thought it was gone for good. But, my techie husband found a breaker switch on the back of the CPU, flipped it, and it came back to life. Anyway, during the few days it was down, I was borrowing Hunter's laptop just to be able to do my work. I didn't spend much time posting on my blog. But, things are going to get back to normal, once those puppies get here. I have been working on some neat crochet projects that I will share with you when I get pictures.

For now, keep your fingers crossed that puppies will arrive SOON!!!!!

PUPPIES ON THE WAY!!!!!

Ryanne, Disney, and Dillon

I just wanted to let you all know that I will soon be posting pictures of my new great-grandpuppies! My previous post had a picture of my daughter, Ryanne, and her new Australian Shepherd, Sasha Grace. In all my excitement to get Sasha's picture posted, I was a bad Grandma and totally forgot to mention that one of Ryanne's other dogs, Disney, is VERY pregnant and will soon be bringing new puppies into the world. Disney is a beautiful tri-color Pembroke Corgi. She's very spoiled . . . quite the Mama's Girl. But, she's a sweet little thing and oh so miserable in the last days of her pregnancy. Ryanne, who is a Special Ed teacher, started back to school on Thursday. She asked me if I would run by her house and let her dogs out and check on Disney. The poor girl, she seemed so weary and miserable, I ended up staying at Ryanne's almost 3 hours as it was just so hard to leave her.

Anyway, we expected to get a call last night with a "puppy status report, but alas, no puppies yet. Today is day 62 (in a 63-day gestation period), so it will be any time. I can't wait to report back in with pictures! :)

MY NEWEST GRAND-DOG!

If you follow my blog, you know that my daughter Ryanne has a new addition to her family. She is Sasha Grace, an Australian Shepherd, who is now 10 weeks old. Ryanne has just been accepted into the Animal Behavior College, where she will take classes to get certification as a "Certified Animal Trainer". Her husband got Sasha for her to go through her training with her. Sasha joins Disney, a beautiful and VERY pregnant Pembroke Corgi, Bear (the Daddy), another Pembroke Corgi, and Dillon, her ever-faithful and loving MUTT. Lord, how I love my kids and animals! :)

NEWS TO SHARE . . . SOME HAPPY, SOME SAD

Getting the sad news out of the way first, I'm sorry to say that my 22+ year-old cat has gone to live with Jesus. "Pup", as we affectionately called him, came to live with us in 1990. He had been abandoned by his owners when they moved, and he quickly became attached to my daughter, Ryanne, and me . . . or perhaps it was the Cat Chow and fresh water that he loved so much. At any rate, we took him in and turned a loud and crabby Tom cat into the most lovable creature you can imagine. We took him to the vet to have him neutered, and the vet estimated he was AT LEAST 3 years old, based on his size and teeth. Over the years, Pup got to know at least 6 different homes that I can remember, yet he remained loyal and loving through all the upheavals.

I married again in 1998, to my current husband, JC, and Pup came along for the ride. JC, however, is horribly allergic to cats, so Pup was relegated from the house and his favorite litter box to the great outdoors. He never seemed to wander too far and would always come running whenever we stepped outside. He loved everyone and was the best lap kitty you could possibly want. He got along great with our Greyhounds, even though many Greyhounds are not "cat friendly", due to their chase instinct. Pup, however, nuzzled and snuggled with Max and Mini, just like he was their best buddy.

For the past 10 years or so, I found myself wondering if this would be Pup's last Christmas or summer or whatever occasion, but he was like the Energizer Bunny . . . he just kept going and going and . . . well, you get the picture. It makes me very sad to know that he won't be running up to me when I walk out into the backyard and disturbing our neighbors with his VERY loud "I'm hungry" meow. He was such a good little friend, and I like to think he is in Heaven, with my dear mother and all of my other loved ones and pets that are on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge, waiting for me.

Pup and Hunter, enjoying some snuggle time!




Mini, sharing her bed with Pup!





Last but not least, I did mention some good news, as well. Today I am celebrating my 51st birthday! I'm thankful to be alive, I'm thankful to be fairly healthy, and I'm thankful that God has blessed me with wonderful friends and family to share my life with. I look at every day as a gift, better than any birthday gift I could receive.

Love to all of you!

A LITTLE GAME FROM BEANSIE!

"They would have noticed if Benton found a card."

Makes me a little curious to find out what Benton and Scarpetta are up to in Patricia Cornwell's novel, "All That Remains". Tina, from Beansie Babbles, invited me to try this out.

Here's what you do:

1. Collect the book you have most handy.
2. Turn to Page 161.
3. Find the 5th complete sentence on this page.
4. Cite the sentence on your blog.
5. Pass it on to 5 other blog friends!

Sounded like fun, so I grabbed the book by my recliner and the above sentence is what I found. I'm going to forward this to: Caroline, Gloria, Shana, Terrie, and Lorena. Play along if you like.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!!!

Well, the moment of truth is here. I'm sure you all are tired of hearing me moan and groan about the orange and black OSU afghan I've been working on. I am a die-hard OU Sooners fan, and working with this orange and black has about taken its toll on me. :) But, tonight, I gave it it's final "haircut", and tomorrow I will present it to the lady at work who is giving it as a birthday gift. I'm SOOOOOOOOO happy to have it finished! It didn't take the skill that Carolyn's KSU afghan took because this one is just made up of granny squares. But, it took patience and persistence. Now I can put the orange and black yarn back in the drawers until October! And, Carolyn, I still want to get your suggestions for making a crimson and white OU blanket. :)

I do want to take this opportunity to graciously thank my mother-in-law, aka MIL, for helping me get this afghan completed. The lady at work was putting undue pressure on me to get it finished way ahead of schedule, and it was getting to the point that I honestly didn't want to work on it anymore. So, I broke down and asked MIL to help me make some squares. I mean, geez, she's the one who started all this madness by teaching me how to crochet last Thanksgiving! :) Well, I bundled up some orange yarn and sent it her way, and her hook started flying! I really have to give her credit for making well over half of the orange squares. Thank you, MIL, Peggy, Mom . . . I love you and truly appreciate you for all the wonderful things you do.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the finished product, being shown by none other than my daughter, Hunter, and her friend, Kenneth. I told him his picture was going to be posted on the internet, so that's why he's hiding. :)

QUESTIONS FOR ALL YOU EXPERT BLOGGERS!

Happy Monday, Everyone! How do you like the new blue background? I was getting a little tired of the green and thought it was time for a change. I added some new pictures of my family, and am still trying to find one of myself that I'm willing to show the world. I hate having my picture taken and avoid cameras with a vengeance! But, I will break down one of these days and post a picture of myself, just so you can put a name with a face. :)

I am new to this "blogging" thing, and am learning as I go. I have a couple of questions for those of you who know what you're doing. First, how do you find all those neat blog backgrounds? I'm using Google Blogspot, and the choices of backgrounds are limited. Some of you have really neat, unique blogs, and I'm wondering where you find all your "elements". And, my other question . . . Is there a way to put in an "alert" so that I know when someone has left a comment on one of my posts? I was reading through some of my early posts this weekend and came across some comments that I didn't even know I had received. I would've liked responding to these comments, but a couple of these were over a month old!! If any of you have suggestions on "Blog Etiquette and Tips for Beginners", please let me know.

And, finally, thanks to those of you who left messages for Hunter. She was absolutely thrilled to read your comments. In fact, she picked some yarn from my stash this weekend and made 4 granny squares, getting better on each one as she went along! She's wanting to post pictures, but I've told her to make enough for a scarf, then I'll teach her how to whipstitch, and she can post her completed project. Your encouragement is very much appreciated!

Have a great week, everyone!

Help Gloria Celebrate Her 100th Post!!!

Here is her crochet site - http://gloria-uncinetto.blogspot.com/. She will be giving away some neat prizes. Stop by her site for a visit!