HODGEPODGE WEDNESDAY!

Thank you once again Joyce for the wonderful questions - a few were hard and I had to really think about the answers.  

1. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the 2013 word of the year is 'selfie'. Your thoughts? When did you last take a selfie? Do you post them online somewhere?  Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind the lens?

I prefer to be behind the camera but lately I've taken many selfie's.  I wanted people to know that I'm good and strong and fighting cancer with all I have.  I wanted to document my ever changing hair and skin issues.  I posted them on FB and sent them to some folks.

2. Will you send out Christmas cards this year? If so, are they ready to go? If not, are you glad or sad about leaving that tradition behind?

Yes, we send out Christmas cards but they are not ready to go yet.  I've been busy with other things but I know that I still have time and that those who will get them will understand that I've been busy with other things.  That's why I love them!

3. Do you trust easily?

Yes but I don't "re-trust" easily as in, if I'm hurt by someone, it will harder for me to trust that person again.

4. Pine-cinnamon-peppermint-vanilla (as in sugar cookie)...of those listed, which one is your favorite December scent?

Cinnamon. There is just something about Cinnamon that makes me smile.

5. Did you do more talking or more listening yesterday? Was that by choice or necessity?

Listening, by choice. I'm naturally shy and an introvert so talking is hard, even around those I consider friends.

6. What's the last song that got stuck in your head? Sorry if it's back there now :  )

"The Battle Belong to the Lord", it has been one of the fight songs that got me through Chemo and I sing it often.

7. Which world explorer (in the whole history of the world) would you most like to have traveled with, and why? 

I'll pick Adam.  He may not have been considered an explorer but he walked with God for a bit and explored the garden of Eden.  I would have loved to have been there when he gave the animals their names.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

A friend made me this "Remission" towel for us and it now hangs over the stove handle.  It was waiting for us Sunday night as our Bible small group was getting together to study.  It was on the back of a chair that I moved to get to the fireplace where I sat on the hearth with my back to a nice warm roaring fire!  I never saw the towel!! Some days I'm blond!!  The other members of the small group had a celebration for us and for our good news.  A few pies and carrot pudding and lots of ice cream, whipped cream and hot cocoa made for a wonderful evening.  Every time I look at the towel, I thank God for His answer and for our friends!

I also want to thank each of you who left such wonderful comments on my post last week.  I told you in last weeks Hodgepodge that I was in Remission and so many of you sent well wishes. It was truly overwhelming.  Many of you I don't know in person and have come to love you because of this blog.  Yet, you all gave me such support and love and understanding. I will forever be grateful for that.  It's been a wonderful, scary, hard, sickening, humbling and beautiful experience.  Who ever thought I would use some of those words to describe Cancer? 

So now it's your turn. How would you answer these questions?  Go on, answer the questions. 

By now everyone should know how to play, so come join us as we answer Joyce's questions

1. Are you settling for something?

I don't like the term "settling" sounds like I can make up my mind between 2 foods on a menu so I settle on one over the other. No I don't belive that I am settling for anything. I am very happy with the choices I have made.

2.  It wasn't that long ago almost every store in the US locked doors and turned out lights on Thanksgiving Day. This year many will be open all day Thursday, giving shoppers a jump start on 'Black Friday'. In your opinion is this a good thing or a not so good thing? Will you be shopping on Thanksgiving Day?

I will not be shopping on Thanksgiving Day. I will be celebrating all I am thankful for.  I find it sad that people sit around the table thankful for something, then run out to the store to get more.....

3. Speaking of shopping... I saw a recent article on the twelve best shopping cities in the world. In order they are-
New York, Tokyo, London, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Dubai, Madrid, Milan, and Seoul.
Ever shopped in any of the cities listed? In which city would you most like to pull out the plastic or cold hard cash?

Never shopped in any of these cities. If I needed to pick a spot to spend money, I'd pick Paris because ....it's Paris!

4.  When did you last dine by candlelight?

When did the power go out last time????That would be when I last dined by candle light.

5. What do you have too much of?

Bills-cold weather -and dog hair on our carpet - guess whose?

6. The Hunger Games...are you a fan?  Did you read the book(s)?  Will you/have you seen the movie?  Will you/have you seen Catching Fire?  No spoilers please!

I did not read the books and will not be watching the movie until it comes on tv for free.

7. Share your plans for Thanksgiving Day. The who, the where, the what...especially the what! As in what's for dinner?  If you're one of my International visitors, whose homeland doesn't celebrate American Thanksgiving (the whole world doesn't ya know!), then still tell us your plans for Thursday.

Our daughter, son-in-law and grand girls are coming at 11-ish for breakfast.  We will have bacon, eggs, fruit salad, vegan potatoes, almond muffins, pumpkin bread and sausage.  Yes, bacon and sausage.  We will play with the kids and be thankful for all we have.
Later in the evening we will have our own turkey with meat stuffing, yams and veggies. Pumpkin pie and Pecan pie will be our dessert. We will also continue to be thankful for all we have.  Our daughter and her family will be visiting her husbands side of the family and our daughter is a vegan (rest of us are not, so that is why the bacon AND sausage)

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We are in REMISSON!! We are thankful for such great news and thankful for all the support we have received through this.  What a great word REMISSION is.  

Agility Saturday Part 5 - Recovery

In the end we had entered 3 games and qualified (Q'd) in 2 of them.The more Q's we get the faster we can move up to Level 2.  He had held his own, even running with Paula. He had met new people and new dogs. He had showed more confidence than I ever saw before. He had done more than I had hoped for and way more than I expected.

At one point we took both dogs out for a walk and the Judge was out there, walking her own dog. she looked at me said "What a great dog, it's so much fun watching him run and we all can see just how much fun he is having."  I started to cry. She had no idea what it took to get us all to this day.  No idea how many classes - how many times we worked in the corner of a class, on not barking. No idea just how fearful he was in the past of the Wicket, the people, the other dogs. All she saw was a confident dog having a blast in a agility sport. I cried tears of joys, tears of relief, tears of pride.  It all hit me at once and she had no idea! 

 Sunday was a day of rest.

I use to do dog therapy with Becke, and had mentored others getting started in dog therapy and told them once the therapy session was over, go home and let the dog unwind.  I followed my advice this time as well.  Becke was tired, Hubby was tired, and I was beyond tired. We went home had our supper and was asleep on the couch by 6:30.  I had the good sense to put chicken in the cock pot so we came home to dinner waiting for us!  Added Mac and Cheese and we were ready with dinner in no time.

We spent the day relaxing.  We went to church and let the dogs sleep. Had a good lunch and all took a nap.  We needed the rest. Becke is 13 years 10  1/2 months old, recovery took longer for her than I had expected. her Saturday was longer than usual, her lunch was not the same and her nap was lost watching her little brother for the afternoon. August was just worn out and hubby and I just really needed down time.

In the end I learned that goals are important. Both for our pets and for ourselves.  As we move forwarded with Cancer treatments and with agility  training we reach higher and higher, digging deeper and deeper and in the end come out winners!

Agility Saturday Pt 4 -Wildcard

By time it was time for August's 3rd run it was after 4:30 and I was fading fast.  Remember we were there at 7:15 AM.  I was tired, my body hurt and this day was getting a lot longer than I anticipated. I knew that if I stopped moving in the ring, so would August. Time for the back up plan - or should  I say, the back up handler, Paula. 

Paula and August have worked together before in our classes. Chemo simply wears me out and there were classes that I just couldn't do and Paula took him to class.  He  knows her and loves her so she was my back up.

We had a plan to make the change.  I would go into my office with August and Paula would come take him from me.  We have tried to have me hand off August to Paula and leave and August thinks I've gone to the ladies room or something  and looks for me.  We didn't want that, so if Paula takes him away from me, he seemed to think I was staying behind and he would go off with her and do whatever. So we had it all planned out.  Remember, we are working with a not-so-confident dog so we plan a lot.

Paula took him and I snuck around to watch without him seeing me.

The game was "Wildcard."

The object is to successfully complete the course, including enough "wildcards" to qualify.  The wildcards are optional obstacles that you have to choose to take.  When the course is set out one obstacle will have an "A" while another will have a  "B". The wildcards are 2 obstacles placed parallel to each other.  For our level we needed to complete 2 "A" obstacles and 1 "B" obstacle.

Paula and I talked about our options, what obstacle to take and what to use as a back up in case he didn't want to do our plan.

Paula is a competitor in agility and has several agility dogs with titles.  I knew she could direct him to the correct obstacle to make his "wildcard".  She did.

Even though he was getting tired, she was able to redirect him, get him to shake off the stress of the day and the very long day and still make it fun for him.

In the end, he came in 2nd place for his level and again we got a ribbon (although we left as soon as he came off the ring, we were all so tired and I really needed to lay down - badly -so we never knew he got another ribbon until the next day)

Agility Saturday Part 3 -Standard

It was after 1:00 pm before we were ready to run again in another game called "Standard."

While waiting our turn, we (And by "we" I mean August) visited without barking, walked around outside, watched the other dogs run, and even took a nap on my lap!  He was polite, calm, even looked bored at one point.  No stress at all.

In this game, the object is to run a full course of numbered obstacles in order, going over the obstacles in the correct direction as well.  The handler gets to walk the course without the dog so that we can see where the obstacles are, what direction they go and to plan how to get the dog from 1 to 2 to 3 and so on in the shortest possible way at the fastest speed/shortest time that the handler and dog can do it in. Sounds easy right, not so much as I've learned. 

We had 13 obstacles. We made no errors (mistakes like knocking down a bar, going over time, or running the wrong direction - yes that happens.). We had fun. We didn't have barking, or freezing, but we did have a slow time as he would turn around and look at the onlookers watching him. We also had the final jump that he first ran past, then tried to jump over it going the wrong way!! I was able to slow him down, get him to come back to me and go over the jump in the correct direction.! Then I exhaled.

In the end, he did qualify and came in 4th place.  I was stunned as they handed me a ribbon!  Yes a real ribbon that says 4th place on it.  He did it!

My cheerleaders included Hubby and big sister Becke this time (Hubby had a meeting for church in the earlier run).   It was pure fun.