I love Lucy

Long story, I'll start from the beginning and try not to jump around like I do when I tell a story verbally.

Since Howard was so sick Jeff didn't want to take him to the Dave Matthews Band concert so he offered me the tickets. I called my friend Heather because I knew that she was a huge DMB fan. We went to the concert on Sunday, September 13th. On the car ride to Irvine Heather mentioned that someone gave her a dog named Lucy and that it wasn't really working out. I asked her what kind of dog and she said Labradoodle, a breed that my mom has always wanted and that my aunt has and loves to pieces. Heather said that her older dog that didn't get along with Lucy and that her 2 year old daughter doesn't like dogs and didn't even want to be in the room with the Lucy! I told her to give me a call if she really can't get Lucy to work.

Heather calls a few days later and says that she can't handle Lucy anymore, that she just doesn't have time to train her. We set up a "play date" for Sunday to see if my dogs and Lucy get along because we thought about taking her in at this moment. My dogs didn't particularly enjoy having a little puppy in the house, Silver growled everytime Lucy walked by and Corky would snap at her! Hutch on the other hand LOVED Lucy! Oh, and Lucy chased our cats, poor cats!

Something else happened on Sunday...Howard passed away.

So my mom and dad came over to see Lucy and perhaps take her, although my dad didn't want another dog at all! He wouldn't even consider another dog! My mom and I sat, saddened by Howard's passing and laughing at this silly puppy terrorizing all of my other dogs. It was bitter sweet.

I decided to keep Lucy, it felt like I needed to do this, that there was a reason that I need to take her.

My mom and I talk to Jeff over the next day or 2, not wanting to push the whole new dog thing, we didn't want to overwhelm him or make him think that we didn't miss Howard terribly. I posted a few photos of Lucy on my facebook and Jeff contacted me and asked me a few questions about her. I was excited that he was considering it!

So Monday night I ask Jeff if he wants to come over to my house for dinner to meet Lucy but he said he was too tired, he had been up with Howard for the past few nights in the hospital so he just wanted to sleep. I said ok and asked if he wanted me to bring Lucy over to his house while I am at my mom's group the next day (today). He said yes!

I drop Isabella off at school, drop Zach off at pre-school and then zoom over to my mom's house so she can walk Lucy over to Jeff's house. I prayed all morning that it would work out, I explained the whole story (through sobs and tears! Sorry, girls!) I asked them all to pray. I called my mom as soon as my moms group was over and she said that Jeff and Lucy are getting along perfectly and that she really thinks that Jeff will keep her!

Best of all is that Jeff is going to train Lucy to be his new service dog!

I've always heard about people having miraculous things happen to them, true God things. I truly believe that God had a huge hand in thism that this was all his doing and that this all happened because of Him.

I drove home from my moms group sobbing, completely sobbing that this all happened, just amazed at what God can do. Thank you God!

Here are a few photos of Lucy, she is a 1 year old Labradoodle, she is incredibly sweet and curious!





Here are Hutch and Lucy, they look like brother and sister!

favorite

I don't have the appropriate words to express how much I love this song:

Howard, my brother's dog

isn't doing well. He is bleeding internally and they can't figure out where. They are doing all kinds of tests and he had to have 3 blood transfusions because he had lost so much.

I feel so sorry for my brother, I can tell he is so stressed and worried about Howard.

busy morning!

8:05 dropped Isa off at school
8:45 dropped off 2 tables and an easy up at a friends house
9:00 went to Zach's school for an open house/meet and greet
10:30 met a friend at Michaels to give her a purse
11:00 dropped off something at another friends house
11:30 quick stop at the grocery store
12:00 gas
12:15 home

PHEW!

I don't understand...

I saw a little girl that was probably 7, maybe 8 at Isabella's school today that had a shirt on that said I Study (BOYS). Why would parents encourage this at such a young age?!

10 reasons why I hate the heat

10. I hate sweating off my make-up as I am applying it
9. I hate it when my legs stick to the leather couch or our leather car seats
8. I hate driving with my windows up
7. I hate that I sweat in weird places
6. I hate laying in bed and even the sheet is too much
5. I hate the summertime electric bill (although this summer has been under $100 KNOCK KNOCK)
4. I hate not being able to enjoy the yard
3. I hate cooking when it's hot
2. I hate wearing less clothes
1. I hate waiting to demolish the planter, I've got my sledge hammer ready...let me to it!!

Please So Cal...cool down SOON!

great idea!

days of the week tags

I think I am going to put them on heavy stock paper and do them for both kids. Very clever!

finally doing more work on the house

We had a guy ask if we needed tree work, I talked him down from $800 to $400! We needed to get these palm trees out because they were way too big for the area, the planter has been cracked for years and years.


you can see that on the left side the planter is just about to lean on the fence, we just paid a few thousand to replace the fence so I didn't want to have to do that again!

The view from our porch, not attractive:




After, LOVE it!




We are going to knock out the planter (once it's not 116° outside). We are having new stamped concrete poured and I would love to get a fountain like this and put it along the back wall:


I also bought this set, on clearance from $799 for $239! I love a deal!

Kmart seating set

I would like to put in a small patio cover coming from the wood that the pillar it attached to, it's hard to see from this angle.

I can't wait to get this done, it's going to be so awesome!

kids conversations

I love listening to the kids talk when they think I can't hear them.

I: this is Deuce, he was our kitty before you were born
Z: ohhh
I: he's in heaven now
Z: and he's in our heart
I: yeah, he is
Z: Jesus and Deuce are in our hearts, Jesus is holding Deuce in my heart.

So sweet!!

Summer...in a minute!

I can't post photos from everything we did this summer, it would take years! But here is a photo (or 2) of everything we did this summer. It was FUN! And FAST she got out of school June 12th and went back August 12th!

So...this summer we...

rollerskated for the first time:


took Metrolink to the beach:


Spent lots of time at the library (FREEE!)


Donovan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary, thanks mom for watching the kids!


We did a LOT of swimming:


Spent lots of time at the park with friends:


Went bowling with friends:


Went to San Diego as a family:


Where we visited Lego Land (the kids LOOOOVED it! Even more than Disneyland!)


More swimming with friends:


Their first circus visit:



The last week of summer we camped in Pismo Beach for 6 days:

More swimming:


Some shuffleboard:


One dog costume contest (Hutch was a Dalmation, his hat says Fire Station #1) where Hutch won most original:


Lots of quality time:


And fun:


The day after we got home from Pismo Isabella started 1st grade!







And I wonder why I am exhausted?! Love it!

update

I'm still fat! No big shocker there, huh?!

I had to put weight watchers on the back burner, with the kids having a short summer and us taking so many trips I haven't been to a meeting in a few weeks. I plan on starting up again a week from this Tuesday.

I started back at the gym after a hiatus there as well. Donovan and I also talked about walking around the lake by our house every night. The kids love it and it's such good exercise.

Anyway, I'll update again soon. Hopefully with better news!

my cheap and delicious meal

I went to Sprouts for the first time and in the meat case they had a pre-made meatloaf in a pan all ready to go. It was 4 servings for $3! Yep, $3!

To go with is they had red potatoes for $.49 a pound and broccoli for $.49 a pound! The total for all 4 of us was under $10, you can't beat that!

Oh and the meatloaf is SOOO good!!

we need prayers, and lots of them!

My brothers dog has cancer and he went through treatment but the effects are worse than the cancer. It was in his nose but the chemo will most likely make him blind in his left eye.


And let me clarify, this dog is not just a dog. Jeff is in a wheelchair and Howard is a service dog so he goes everywhere with Jeff. The only time he isn't with Jeff is when Jeff is at the races, the noise was too loud and Howard refused to wear ear muffs. Jeff has had him since Donovan and I met in 1997. So imagine your dog...only he isn't outside while you are gone. Imagine your lover, though he never goes to work all day long. They are NEVER apart! That's how much this dog means to my brother. They sleep in the same bed! lol

Anyway, if you could pray for Jeff too, he isn't getting any sleep. Howard tries to rub his eye while Jeff sleeps so Jeff has been sleeping in his wheelchair...well, more like not sleeping in his wheelchair. Howard was thrashing himself around for 4 hours last night and Jeff can't stop him. Jeff has no appetite and now has a kidney infection from the stress.

So if you could add Howard and Jeff to your prayer list we would all greatly appreciate it.

Here is Howard in case you are curious, he is a gorgeous and incredibly sweet golden retriever.

funky

I've been in a funk lately, sorry for the lack of blogs.

My rug stinks

We bought a rug about a year ago, we bought it when Wickes went out of business and liquidators came in and sold everything. So we bought a beautiful rug for what we thought was a good chunk of money ($300?) and it STINKS! We have steam cleaned it a few times but it still stinks. Ugh.

mama would be proud!

My mom always taught me the value of a dollar, how to clip coupons and wait until the item is on sale to get an even better deal. To look through different ads and go to different stores for different things.

I have been dying to try these:

Purex laundry sheets

but $8 for 20 loads of laundry wasn't appealing to me! I had a $2 off coupon and saw them at Starer Bros on sale for $5.99. The starter pack was 20 loads and the refill was 25 loads, what's the difference you ask? Well the starter pack comes with a nifty carrying case. I passed up the nifty carrying case for a good ole ziploc bag. So I got 25 loads for $3.99, I tried them yesterday and they are easy AND laundry smells delicious!

Happy Anniversary!

Donovan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past weekend, my mom watched the kids and we went to San Diego. We have had this planned since January so needless to say...I was VERY excited! We booked a room at Loews luxury hotels and arrived there around 6:00pm on Friday night. We hand them the confirmation number and the guy looks concerned and excuses himself. He comes back with a manager and we are sweating and thinking "we aren't going to have a room, we're going to have to go back home! Our last anniversary the Honda broke down on the way there and we ended up having to buy a new car while in Las Vegas!". The manager comes over to speak to us saying that the room we reserved is being renovated, that it was supposed to be ready by now but the bathroom vanity hadn't arrived yet. He was very nice and very apologetic. He said we could either take a different room, but they didn't have any king size beds. We would get a room with 2 double beds and no view. I could tell that Donovan DID NOT like the double bed idea! Or he said he pay for and book us a room at another hotel for tonight (Friday) and then we would come back Saturday and have a nice room with a king size bed and a view. So we decided to go to the other hotel. It was called Manchester Grand Hyatt

We are getting excited as we drive up to it, it's very close to the Gaslamp Quarter , a fun area with lots of restaurants, shops and bars. The lobby of this hotel is absolutely amazing-sorry it's sorta crooked, I was walking backwards!



the room was very nice, it had a great view:







and this was straight below us, the hotel grounds and pools:



We decide to walk to the Gaslamp Quarter and find some dinner, we found a Thai place...yum! While sitting there we notice quite a few bikes going by. A minute later bikes are still going by. 5 minutes later, still bikes! Apparently it's called Friday Night Bike Ride? I'm not sure if it happens every Friday or just once a year but it was fun to watch! Lots of people were dressed up, some in Mexican Wrestling masks, some in big wigs...so much fun! It probably lasted 10 minutes total, I have no idea how many riders, I am guessing in the thousands. We loved siting outside, people watching is one of my favorite hobbies. After dinner we walked around some more and found a vintage auto store, we loved it! Here are a few of my faves:

Porsche Speedster:




Just like what Dylan drove!


I believe this was a Jaguar:




We walked for about 2 hours and then went back to our hotel where we had dessert, apple cobbler ala mode...YUM! This is the first time I have ever ordered room service, it was so exciting!



Donovan and I are not night owls, we never stay out late. That night we ate dinner at 8:00, dessert at 10:30 and went to bed around 1:00! Craaazy!

The next morning we slept in until 9:30...which we haven't done in...oh probably 7 years! It was awesome. We got ready and went to Balboa Park. We went to the Automobile museum, here are some of my faves from there:


a close up of the engine:


and a close up of the awesome hood ornament:


the gear shift:


A gorgeous Indian:




This one is for my dad:




I LOVED this one, It is a 1953 Jaguar.

One amazing thing about this place is that they tell you how many MPG they got, how much they originally sold for, HP, all the details you usually never get to see.

This was anther fave, it was a Studebaker.


Here we are walking around the park:


The arcitecture there is stunning, Paige if you haven;t been there you must go!!
















We saw some fun street preformers:






It was just about time to check back in to Loews so we went there and they were very kind and said that our room was all ready for us and that they upgraded our view! I was dying to see this room and I was not let down, it was amazing!







The bathroom was gorgeous, I told Donovan I want mine to look EXACTLY like this:




Drum roll please....


Gorgeous!









The hotel was very kid friendly, they have babysitting, a kids room, a teen room, a kids pool, a family pool and an adult pool, drive in movies that can be seen from the kids pool. They also had this cute kid eating area:


Chess:


Here is the hotel lobby:






The manager also told us that they were going to give us a free meal at their 4 start restaurant inside the hotel. It one of the best meals of my entire life, I had beef tenderloin and Donovan had salmon. Yum! Here was the view from our table:





After our meal we went swimming and in the spa and watched The Dark Knight on HBO!

It was such a great anniversary, I wouldn't have changed a single thing.