Penny is a Real Leader Dog

Last night we went to Leader Dog Headquarters to meet Penny and the client, Denise, who is now her master. Penny was as lively as always but Denise said that in the harness, Penny is terrific. She knows her stuff. I was very pleased because Denise is definitely the right person for Penny.  She is a lively woman, about 20 years younger than us, and has had 2 Leader Dogs before Penny. This woman was amazing.  She is a Lion and also a Toastmaster.  She worked as a social worker and now wants to write books.  She is married to a man who is also blind and both of them got new Leader Dogs at the same time. They live in Augusta, Georgia. I was nervous about meeting her but now I feel really good about the whole thing.  Penny looked a little older and bigger (maybe because we are dealing with little Mindy. She was just as lively as ever. While we visited she was on a leash and not in harness. So she could just be a dog and not working. It was a great evening.  Denise gave us her address and her blog site so that we could keep in touch.

Books

Some of the best books I have read have come on the reference of friends.  Carole recommended "Prodigal Summer"  Luella suggested "Unbroken" and "the Devil and the White City" My Daughter Mary suggested " Angry Housewives Eating Bon-bons" and Gretel offered "Alias Grace".  These same people have suggested many other wonderful books.  Isn't it nice to have good friends who read?

Mindy's First Car Rides

When we brought Mindy home from Leader Dog Headquarters, I held her in my lap. Now she has doubled her weight and she rides on the floor in the front passenger seat. Oh my! she whimpered the entire way the first trip we made and the second.  The third trip I would reward her for sitting quietly with kibble. (Mindy will do anything for food) That night, last night, she had diarrhea and Hubby had to take her out every two hours. Now they are both taking a nap.

Ficus Trees

About 35 years ago my Mom and Dad received a ficus tree as an anniversary gift. With all the moves they have made, I inherited the tree. It has done very well.  We take it outside over the summer and bring it back in the fall. When we took our Master Gardener training, the teacher warned us. If it bothers you when a plant drops its leaves, don't get a ficus. Now that Mom is home from the hospital and I had time to check on my plants, I found the ficus was doing its thing.  Mindy was helping clean up the fallen leaves.

Mom is back in the Hospital

When I went to see Mom on Tuesday, I found she hadn't taken any of her medications all week and she was very dizzy.  I took her to the Clinic and the doctor said she was very dehydrated, her sugar was up and she was quite confused. They called an ambulance but because of the terrible cold and snowstorm we waited 5 hours and then I drove her to the Hospital myself. Today they decided that there was a heart blockage and she will need a heart catheterization but only after her creatinine goes down.  The dehydration had affected her kidney function.  My brother and I have been visiting her and trying to explain to her what is happening.  My brother is great.  I don't know what I would do without him. But I am exhausted and going to bed early.

A Fine Craftsman

My son-in-law, Seth, is a master craftsman especially with working with wood. For Christmas he made this rack for me to hang on the wall and hold all my quilting rulers.  It really does the job well.  In the past he has also made racks for hanging quilts.  I have one hanging in my family room. Last year for Christmas he made triple bunkbeds for his daughter, Kameren's American Girl Doll

Socks

I love fancy socks. I have about 80 pair of socks. I keep them in bags for the different seasons. I have them for Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, St Patrick's Day and Halloween. Then, of course, I have everyday fancy socks with cats, jungle animals, music, fun stripes and dots. It is a sure fire pleaser for me as a gift. I have a Christmas pair with individual toes but they are a little difficult to put on, and I have a pair of wonder woman knee socks which even have capes attached.

House Training Mindy

We have our new puppy, Mindy, which we will be raising for Leader Dog for the Blind. She is a cross between a Labrador retriever and a golden retriever. Our last puppy was very easy to house train and just like with children, when you think you know what you are doing the second one proves you wrong. We set the kitchen timer and take her outside, in the brutal cold, every 15 minutes. Even though she does her stuff outside she still manages to leave puddles in between. The only signals we get are during the night, when she is in her crate, or if she has to poop.  She has been surprisingly easy to teach other commands. She knows her name and comes if you say her name. She is a very eager eater and is now up to 12 pounds.

A Nice Christmas Present

This year, one of the presents Hubby gave me for Christmas was a photo album of all the quilts I have made. I am missing only three, a queen size quilt in the peony pattern which I gave my brother 40 years ago, a baby quilt for my friend, Margie, with embroidered birds on it, and a baby quilt for my sister-in-law, Peggy, which had an appliqued Winnie the Pooh on it. I still have to label the quilt pictures and decide on the year they were made, not as easy as one would think.  The last quilt I finished was one for my daughter, Martha, a sawtooth star.

Snowy Day

It really is snowing quite heavily today.  I am up in my craft room working on another quilt.  Hubby is working on the computer in the kitchen. He is trying to housebreak the new puppy by taking her out every 20 minutes. She is compliant when he takes her out, otherwise she pees on the kitchen flour. I was trying to decide if I wanted a piece of baklava.  For Christmas Eve dinner I chose baklava for dessert.  The best place to purchase that is Shatila in Dearborn.  When I arrived on the 23rd of December I took a number.  Mine was D#90 and they were serving D#33. At some point a man with a number D#71 gave up and I took his number.  A while later the manager announced that those who wanted mixed trays, already packaged , could come to the cash register. I was among the 20 people who ran to the cashier to buy, all of them pushing and shoving and most of them doing so in Arabic. I got my package and went out to the parking lot. (I had thought myself lucky to get a parking space) A delivery van was parked behind me and I had to wait 20 minutes for it to move. When I got onto the Southfield expressway, I went about one mile before all three lanes came to a stop because of an accident. The baklava was delicious and some was left over as peoples appetites were not up to snuff. That will go with a hot cup of tea.

A Christmas to Remember

There were 17 of us for Christmas dinner. All but one of them stayed overnight during the holidays.  Then the disaster happened! Monday morning the stomach flu hit Molly, by Monday night Martha was down. Early Wednesday Hubby and Tom had it.  It ended up going through 11 of us. (literally)
We all got together for my Mom's birthday on the 22nd before everyone got sick, so she was spared the virus. She said she was grateful that no one came to visit after that.