Patriotic Birthday

A dear friend is having a birthday next week, so I put together a little patriotic fun. Using a metal decorator wagon, battery lights, a BBQ towel, candle and scratch off lottery tickets...this was was a fun and easy gift that looks so festive. 

Are you dealing with hot spots?

It never fails...come summer time one or two of our furbabies get hot spots from heat rash. We've tried different over the counter medicated shampoos with little to no relief. Hydrocortisone cream didn't help. Even after seeing the Vet, there wasn't much success.

Our sweet Rat Terrier, Dixie Lee, has been miserable with constant itching, scratching and chewing on herself. Not to mention it's been hard for us to not be able to find a solution for her.  

I began researching home remedies online and came upon an article about Listerine. This jogged my memory to something I forgot about from years ago. I had a recipe for soothing spray. Once I looked for and found the recipe I immediately made a batch of it. We tried it and so far we've seen a difference in the chewing on her hind haunches and tail area as these are the most affected areas. 

Homemade Listerine Hot Spot Spray

Take a clean spray bottle and remove the sprayer insert. Fill a 3rd of the bottle with Listerine. Next add a 3rd of the bottle with baby oil. Finally, fill another 3rd of the bottle with luke warm water. Replace sprayer and tighten to fingertip tight. Shake to mix ingredients. Spray affected area(s) and lightly rub to get beneath the fur to really coat the skin. Shake to mix before each use.

Here's our baby girl about 20 minutes after application. She's finally able to get some relief so she can rest. While this is not a cure all, the Listerine soothes the irritation while the baby oil moisturizes the skin. 

Deco Mesh Wreath

We've been renovating our master bathroom and designed a wash station for our 3 furbabies. I wanted to add a special touch to their area & I felt like crafting today so here's what I came up with...I've never made a deco mesh wreath before so this was my first go at it. It still needs a little adjustment but I think it turned out well.

Floral Memories

I'd like to share with you the latest floral piece I put together. My sister is going to visit our maternal Grandparents gravesite & we both wanted them to have a little something special. It's been over 40 years and neither of us have ever been there; so it had to be something meaningful.

Grandma was noted as saying "some just champagne taste on a demitasse pocketbook" so I used this as the theme.

The colors reminded me of the lipstick she wore in my favorite photo of her. The magnolias are a piece of my sister as she has always loved them. The rustic container represents the beauty of Grandpa and Grandma's aging. Since I didn't have a cardinal to put with it, I adorned the container with a cross...burgundy as it's my signature color & shabby chic bling accent that reminded me of a brooch she wore on her black coat.

Welcome October

Good morning everyone! Thank you for stopping by on this beautiful 1st day of October. 

This year has been one that I care not to repeat. The first Saturday of January, my other half's father was taken to the ER wee hours of the night as he initially was disoriented but by the time he arrived at the hospital he was unconscious. I won't go into the long drawn out details, but after a blood transfusion of 5 pints, he finally stabilized hours later. This lead to many tests, misdiagnoses and more. Mind you he has 1% of working lungs due to COPD, thus requiring the dependency on his oxygen mask. So this on top of the blood loss did not make for a good combination. He spent the first 6 months of the year in and out of ICU, CCU, rehab facilities, the skilled facility and finally LTAC. The blood loss was not due to internal or external bleeding, it was later found to be caused by a broken chromosome. With this condition his cells basically made the blood but didn't know what to do with it so it never "matured" and did its job. It was akin to making infantile blood that never knew what it's adults job was, so it died off. 
 
The hematologist was trying to get him approved for a drug that only one company in Germany makes that would be able to help repair the chromosome break. Each pill was $48,000.00 so the approval would been to have the medication donated to his care. We never did get word back in time as he passed away June 30th. 


All the while, I have had his mom living with me as she isn't really capable of living on her own. So this been a definite life change for both of us.

Early May I was informed that my Aunt on my Dad's side was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Two days later I get word that my Uncle on my Mom's side was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My Aunt gave up and passed shortly after diagnosis, but my Uncle held on until the Lord called him home in July. The Lord also called home a dear friend that had been cancer in May.  

August 25th Hurricane Harvey hit and devastated the area. I'm sure you've seen the news of the unprecedented 500 yr flooding that hit the area. Several friends and co-workers lost their homes, including my other half's Mother. FEMA and Red Cross have been hard hit which makes it hard on residents as claims are still going unprocessed or denied without reason; even though those denied lost everything they had, so it wasn't a scam claim. It's just devastating to see the home debris still sitting on the side of the roads and highways waiting to be picked up. All the while homes are in disrepair as they continually wait and fight for funds to help rebuild. 

Needless to say, I am so ready for a better last 3 months of the year than how it started.