Heaven Has A New Angel

We will forever hold our Aunt Judy in our hearts and think of her with much love and fond memories.

I am so lucky to have known her.  She was a strong woman who I admired.  She was talented with many skills including painting (pictures), gardening (beautiful plants), and knitting.  I have hand made treasures from her which are even more valuable now.  

I am so lucky to have been loved by her.

Rest In Peace Angel Judy, we will always love you.

RIP Dear Lucky

Monday, April 7th, we lost a dear part of our family.  Rest in peace Lucky, you will always be remembered, loved, and missed.  I know my parents are heart broken.

We babysat little Lucky in November, 2004

One of my favorite pics of baby Lucky

He tried so hard to stay awake so he wouldn't miss any fun (one eye closed)

He learned from our big kids (Keystone in front, Amber in back)

He was the cutest little puppy

About a month later, we got to see Lucky again in Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas.  He had grown just a little and remembered all that we taught him.

Lucky really liked Abbytail

Lucky learned all about opening toys

The whole furry gang, December 2004

Several years later...

Amber (left), Lucky and Abbytail (center), Keystone (right)

He might have been slightly spoiled with his own pool.  My dad had been known to put a table with umbrella in the pool so that he can get out of the sun without getting out of the pool.  And why not?  He was the one who used the pool the most!

He enjoyed swimming

He loved chasing a ball (especially a soccer ball)

March, 2014

Jessie had a crush on Lucky

So glad Lucky had lots of fun playing Frisbee

He loved running

Front to back: Joey, Bud, Lucky, Keystone, Jessie

Our angels

It's Been 3 Years

Happy holidays!  It's already that joyous time of the year when everyone is over extended: going to too many parties/planned events, trying to get all the gifts bought/wrapped/mailed, decorating the house, while keeping up with laundry, paying property taxes, cooking, cleaning, caring for the animals, oh yea and going to work, etc., etc., etc.  I can't believe Christmas is only a few weeks away.  Good thing I've been shopping for months.  Too bad I haven't been wrapping!

The last 2 months have just FLOWN by for me, and the first thing I gave up was blogging.  But now I'm ready to get back to it.  I'm not sure how many readers I have anymore, but whoever you are, I've missed you!  I've had a very fun fall, so I will eventually recap the highlights for you.  For now, I'll talk about this past weekend:  Thanksgiving!

Joey was tired after his Thanksgiving holiday

It's been 3 years since I started this blog!  Happy anniversary to my little cyber garden.  This Thanksgiving has been really great.  We "got my parents" this year, so they were here to help celebrate and cook (well, my mom helped with the cooking and dad dog-sat the pups).  It was a perfect meal!  

Here is Todd's beautiful fresh bird.  I don't know if it was so special because it was fresh and never frozen, or all the love Todd put into the brine.  Whatever the reason, it was magic.

I'm not that big of a turkey fan but I LOVED THIS BIRD

Here is my wonderful plate of perfect food.  It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  And Todd's gravy was the best ever.  I could drink that stuff with a straw.

The perfect plate

And then we had pie.

I can smell the goodness just looking at this picture

You all know that my Thanksgiving breakfast tradition is to bake monkey bread.  This year was no exception.  Every year I have a dilemma because my bread grows so much that I wake up to an evil monster lurking in the kitchen.  This year, I decided to outsmart the small bundt pan, and make it like the restaurants who serve it on their buffets.  In a big pan.

Before

Finally, I woke up to what I expected!  The bread had risen without a mess!  I learned that it is more difficult to cook this way.  I need to put foil over it so that it completely bakes without over-browning.  Oh well, next year will be even better!

After
You can't see all the oozy gooey goodness on the bottom of this dish, but it's there

And this is what we got to eat!

Our breakfast:  Yummy!

Our pups had a great time being SPOILED rotten by their grandparents.  They went on walks, and took naps on the couch, and got belly rubs all day and night long.  Just LOOK AT THIS!

Jessie and Joey adore their grandpa

And look at THIS!

Keystone was exhausted from all the partying

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you wished to celebrate!  Thanks for reading, and I'll yap with you again soon.

The Black Boys

A few pics of my parents' boys.

Lucky

Lucky tore his ACL chasing after the evil soccer ball a few years ago.  These days, he's doing just fine!


Here's Bud.  Bud is all bark, with a snippy, sassy side of Don't-Change-My-Routine, people.  He probably deserves to be an old grumpy man, since he's diabetic and they didn't know for so long.  Poor guy felt like crud for years.  He loves my mom like no other.  They have their schedule down, and it works for all of them.  Bud is a very lucky pup.

Bud looking happy, despite having visitors

Bud very happy in one of his favorite spots.  He's usually on the cement behind the                                                       swing, but we've got company today....

Grandpups Are For Loving

Today's pics of father's day weekend are all about loving Joey.  Who wouldn't love this adorable boy?

Grandma snuggles for Joey

 Grandpa & Joey swingin' in paradise

Dad's Day

Thought I'd post a pic-a-day of my awesome weekend last weekend until Mrs. Irritation is here IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK!  I'm so excited that her and her beautiful daughter get to come visit.  And I'm excited to finally meet Mouse, too!

Anyway, since I can't get a post together from last weekend of *everything* I want to show you, I thought I'd drag it out, one picture at a time.  You're welcome.

Todd has been on a mission for a number of years.  He's been searching for a HUGE sign like this for my dad.  He found it a few weeks before father's day.  How perfect.  Thank you, Craigs List.  This sign is indoor/outdoor and lights up.  How cool is this?!?  I think both my dad and my mom really like it.

My dad, his boys, and his new awesome sign

Did You Know?

It has been a little over a year since my Aunt Linda passed away.  It's surreal to think of how long it has been.  It feels like both yesterday and an eternity ago, all at the same time.  She died from lung cancer. 

We have a close retired friend who lost the love of his life to lung cancer.  We participated in a charity run/walk last fall to raise funds for lung cancer research.  I kept literature from that walk that I didn't want to forget.

I want to document it here, so I can always find it.  Credit for these facts go to www.lungevity.org

• Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer in the US, accounting for ~28% of all cancer deaths.
• LESS than 4% of federal dollars spent on cancer research are spent on lung cancer research.
• Lung cancer claims ~160,000 lives per year.  It is a devastating disease that can afflict anyone, regardless of smoking history, gender, or ethnicity.
• Lung cancer kills almost twice as many women as breast cancer.  It kills more than three times as many men as prostate cancer.
• Lung cancer currently has no effective, widely used early detection test, yet if found early, it can be treated.
• The 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is currently under 15%.

 
I don't know if these statistics are still accurate, since I got the info fall of 2012.  Even so, it's a sobering thought that these were accurate at that point in time and are probably still accurate.

2 If By Sea

Road Trip!  We took a family road trip Fall of 2002.  It ranks as one of the best vacations we've ever taken.  We had a goal to take our pups to see the ocean.  Roscoe had fought a battle with cancer, and we were thankful to still have him.  We made his last year count.

We took two weeks and drove to the East coast.  I charted our course and planned to stay at either B&B's that would accept two big dogs, or with relatives. 

We drove to PA and connected with Todd's uncle and aunt, who at the time I had not met.  We had been married 3 years at that point, and Todd had lost touch with them.  We were going to be in their area, so why not stop by and see them?  It was the best thing we ever did, to connect with them.  They are dog lovers, so we were welcome to stay with them.  We ended up rearranging our plans and staying one extra night with them because we just couldn't stand the thought of leaving so soon.  We just found them!

It's one of those things that happens when you find another couple that you connect with so closely and comfortably.  It's always like that with them--we have a close bond no matter how many years pass between visits now.  I remember the warm fireplace and rum & coke filled evenings of staying up until 3am telling stories.  I can still taste the sloppy Joe's our aunt made too.

LOVE this family!

Although I'm not really a fan, it was worth taking this picture as we drove by:

Wow, that's a BIG basket!

Next stop was DC.  Got to meet another uncle & aunt of Todd's and his uncle showed us around all of the must-see sites.  Went to the National Mall and Arlington.  Saw many things I always wanted to see!

Korean War Memorial: unexpectedly haunting and emotionally moving.
I had no idea how moving this is, at least for me it was.

3 year old Boo (aka Amber)
The pups loved travelling.  They got used to loading up in the morning and hitting the road.

Next stop was the Outer Banks of NC.  Finally--we got to see the ocean!  We stayed at a Ramada Inn, RIGHT ON THE OCEAN.  And they ALLOWED DOGS bigger than purse pups!  Can you believe that?  I still can't.  Those poor maids, with all that sand to clean up.  It was actually a decent room.

Roscoe ended up not liking the water so much.  Todd, determined to have fun despite the COLD TEMP, ran back and forth with Amber into the waves and back out.  She had so much fun with her dad.  They were thoroughly soaked and every cranny was filled with sand, but totally worth it.

Amber, Roscoe, Todd in the ocean

Family picture taken by a very gracious volunteer. (Roscoe laying, Amber sitting)
After she gave the camera back, she reached out to pat Amber on the head.
Amber ended up projectile vomiting salt water all over the place--that poor lady!



Had to take the kids through the Brew Thru.
Why doesn't EVERY state have these???

Body Island Light House stairwell from the top looking down--awesome!

Next stop was a lovely Victorian B&B in Wilmington, VA.  They had a nicely landscaped yard all around the house.  On the side, there was a beautiful bathtub buried in the ground full of lilly pads.  I was watching Amber with a keen eye because I knew she had no idea what she was seeing--she had never experienced lilly pads (or any kind of small pond).  Amber thought it looked so inviting, she stepped right in before I knew it, and I yanked her out so fast it's amazing she got wet.  Whoops!  Thankfully no harm, no foul (and they didn't see it happen!).


Yes, that's Todd!

We left the dogs in the room that night while we went to dinner.  I remember walking to and dining at a restaurant on the water, and LOVING their seafood bisque.  They had pewter glasses for water, and it kept the water bone chillingly cold.  Loved that.  We saw a "palmetto bug", and they comped the whole meal including the bottle of wine.  We did not expect that (the food was SO GOOD it didn't even bother us) so we went back the next day and got a tub of seafood bisque frozen to go. 

That night for dessert, we went to a different restaurant and had the most amazing chocolate mousse served in an espresso cup.  It was the most rich and decadent dessert I've ever had.  The butter content had to be amazingly high. 

We walked back to the room & found total destruction & mayhem (not):

Good dogs!

We picked up a pinball cocktail machine in Wilmington, so the dogs were a bit cramped.  But they didn't really mind.  The next stop we made was to see my brother & sis-in-law in VA for a first time visit.  It was such a gorgeous area on the edge of the smokey mountains.  The pups enjoyed playing on the edge of the river.  My brother had them in it before I even knew there was a river there.

So that was our trip.  We loved every minute of it.  Roscoe passed away the following February, and I will always be so thankful we made the time to take that trip.  We made memories I still hold dear.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom is either  going to love me or kill me for this one, but I took a picture of this really old picture.  I'm fairly certain this was on a formal night of the first cruise my parents took. 

Look at the picture on the wall & the decor.  Has to be an old cruise ship room from the late 70s, no? 

And my mom was smokin' hot like a Greek Goddess, don't you think?  Happy Birthday, Mom!  You're the best.

The Golden Anniversary

My parents reached their 50th wedding anniversary last fall.

That is a MAJOR accomplishment, people! 

Since I always felt bad that we did not acknowledge their 40th anniversary (selfish kids), my brother and I decided we were not going to let this one slide by unnoticed.


I knew my oldest older brother would be there whenever we set the date.  So I planned the date with my youngest older brother.  He was driving the farthest, from VA, so I had to make sure he could be away from work long enough to get there and back.  We set a date for April, 2012.  There were several reasons why we delayed the celebration, it just worked out that this spring was better than last fall.


He wanted BBQ catered.  I had no idea where I was going to come up with THAT option.  He actually wanted someone to bury/cook a hog.  I wanted a big elaborate cake.  I have pictures (somewhere) of my dad's parents with their tiered cakes on their 40th, 50th, and I think 60th anniversaries.


You may recall last December, when I told you about my reunion with SamsMom.  I am so excited to have her back in my life.  And you know what else?  She has a buddy who CATERS BBQ.  And you know what else is even better?  SHE DECORATES CAKES.  Can you believe that?  I really couldn't and still can't.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT TIMING?  We weren't stuck with RibCrib.  We weren't stuck with Wal-Mart cake.  We had the BEST food thanks to SamsMom.  People are STILL TALKING about the food they ate.  I suspect they will be talking about it for years.  And she takes great photos too!


We had the best party.  It was just perfect.  My parents were so cute about how excited they got about their party.  They wanted to have it at their home.  They didn't want us to rent a room/hall.  So we had it at their place.  The rain held off, and we had a gorgeous day (I was sweatin' it).


Family and friends came from all over to celebrate.  The food was OUTSTANDING.  It was the best beef brisket I have ever had in my life.  It was moist, tender, smoked to perfection.  The cake was OUTRAGEOUS.  I'm serious.  When you see the cake, you'll say, "THAT'S OUTRAGEOUSLY GORGEOUS"!  I asked my mom what kind of cake she wanted.  "Your dad likes chocolate".  So chocolate cake it was.  And I know my dad loves strawberries.


So, here is the party, in picture form:

L to R:  Tater Salad, Baked Beans*, Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork

*The baked beans had so many different kinds of meat, they were a meal on their own.

The meats were SO good.  Here's a close up:

Beef Brisket on the left, Pulled Pork on the right



brother, mom, dad, Todd, Marianna

More food!

  

Dad mingling with friends



It was a gorgeous day to be outside

Stones preferred the comfort of the couch



Especially when there was free love



SamsMom and I -- she is the reason for such a successful party!

Dad and mom mingling

Abby was excited about the festivities

My pups were so good!  Shadow was outside soaking up the sun.  Or hunting for moles.  Or begging for scraps.



Todd and I with Marianna, a lifelong friend of our family

my aunt!  (the reason for my apple pie obsession)

   

I LOVE that SamsMom photographed everyone

Great action picture!

  

Family photo:  brother, mom, me, dad, brother

Drum roll please.

 And now, a picture of.... THE CAKE!

The cake and punch table



GORGEOUS!!!



My favorite picture of mom and dad