Happy Birthday to Nurse Becke, the Wonder Dog

Today our Becke is officially 14 years old!! 

I've heard it said many times that we may not get the dog we want

But we get the dog we need.

Becke is truely is the dog we needed.  Her kindness, gentle spirit, and determantion have been

a source of joy and laughter for us.

If she wants you to pet her she will politly sit next net you and look at you, if you do nothing, she will

start to nudge your arm, if you do nothing she wil nudge harder.

Until she just about climbe into your lap with "I will Not Be Engored" look.

She is trained to the level of Therapy dog and Service dog and has been a reading dog as well in the past.

She is now retired form those as I'm sick but she is my therapy dog and servce dog and big sister to August. 

I tell her she has a lot to teach him so she needs to stay around a long time.  

I love my girl

Intregrety StarBeck

Becke

Becke Boo Boo

Becke, the wonder dog

Beckelicious 

I see Lobster in you future for dinner love.

A break from every day: Wednesday Hodgepodge.

I'm so glad that I feel well enough to join in the Hodgepodge this week, I missed it last week.   Thank you Joyce.

1. It's  been said that one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. Do you think that's true? Do you find that an easy exercise most mornings? What's something positive you told yourself today? If you missed that boat, what's something positive you could tell yourself tomorrow?

Yes I believe that when you wake up with positive thoughts, it colors your day.  Recently I have learned to wake up with a smile on my face. After all, I DID wake up!

2. There will be karaoke at the next party you attend...are you in? Or will you be faking a sore throat?

SURE!! Especially if I can sing with someone else, at least the first time....

3. January 29th is National Puzzle Day...what's something you've found puzzling recently?

"Global Warming"  It's -5 up here in NH while I type this, parts of the country are going to -30 degrees. Alaska is warmer than the lower 48!  WARM  I don't think so!!!

4.  Jigsaw, crossword, acrostic, logic, sudoku, word search...what's your favorite kind of puzzle, and when did you last work one?

I like word search and sudoku and have both of them in my cell phone so I can play whenever I want.

5. Recently a writer by the name of Amy Glass ruffled feathers with a post she wrote saying she looks down on young women with husbands and kids and she's not sorry. Among other things, she says women will be equal with men when we stop saying house work and real work are equally important. You can read the whole piece by clicking here.

What say you? Do you think men and women are equal in the 21st century? Why or why not?

God made men and woman to be different, to have different roles, to fulfil different needs.  He made us to compliment each other, not to compete with each other.  The whole men/woman equal in the 21 century is a man made idea. If we follow what God wants for His people, we are equal, and still different.

6. What's a product you've noticed in the grocery store that you'd like to try, but haven't yet?

I haven't been to a grocery store in 3 weeks, I have no idea if there is anything new there.

7. The author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was born this week in 1832 (January 27th).  Which character from his celebrated novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, would you most like to meet, and why? Here's a link to a character list if you need help on this one.

The Cheshire Cat: I love the cats grin and ability to explain what is happening.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

As cold as it is around here I know that some in the Midwest and especially in the south are even colder. Up here the big thing is the flu!  Did you get it? I have so many coworkers with it and it's really a bad one.  I am looking forward to spring - are you?

The Story of the 3 Bears

   In anticipation of stem cell harvesting I took the Saturday before to cook for my family. I wanted enough for Hubby and I for 2 full weeks and also for our dogs, as I cook for them as well.

   I gathered my list, went shopping, gathered the supplies and got to cooking. I had both racks in the oven going, all 4 burners on the stove, and my 3 Bears.

Meet Papa Bear - Momma Bear - Baby Bear and Pee Wee (not a real crock pot)

I used one of the gifts we got for Christmas, an absolutely beautiful cutting board pictured above.  I didn't want to cut on it at all, but the man who made it for us made me promise that I would use it so I did.

I chopped, I diced, I cut and I made food for all of us for the next two weeks.

In Papa Bear was beef stew

In Mama Bear was Veggie Barley soup with kielbasa

In Baby Bear was a depression favorite soup called Giblot (hot dog stew)

In the Pee Wee Bear was a stew for the dogs (without the onions, and many of the seasonings) Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of that one, plus it was just one meal and gone in no time!

In the oven was meat loaf

sweet potatoes fries

pork loin

pizza

On the stove top I make tater tot casserole

Suet cakes for the birds and the food for the dogs.

Once it was all cooked and had time to cool, I put it all in containers and put all of them in the freezer.

   It took me hours and we got a lot of food and the freezers were both full.

   We were set for hunkering down and eating well while I went through this ordeal.

   Ironically, I couldn't eat any of it!!  My diet after chemo and before harvesting consisted of Banana, Rice, Applesauce, Toast, Egg - known as the BRATE diet.

With all the wonderful food I had made, this is what I got for breakfast.

The weak tea was replaced with Ginger ale.

In place of toast, I could substitute 4 unsalted crackers.

YUM right!  

   So Hubby got a lot of good cooking!  He is one happy hubby and willing to make the sacrifice. As i was eating my BRATE diet and he was eating real food he would gag and tell me how horrible his food tasted. He's such a bad liar!
   So the dogs and the bids are happy and well fed, too.

   Some days all I can do is laugh!!!!

Battle Scars

Thank you all for the well wishes, emails, cards, calls and concern, but thank you most of all for prayers, healing energy and thoughts to our Father in heaven who showered me in grace and got me through this.

It has been AS hard as we were told it was going to be.  I'm so thankful for all the tests that were done on me before I started this process and for the care that I have received from the wonderful staff at Norris Cotton Cancer Center both in Manchester and Lebanon NH. What a huge team and they are all so very nice.

    

Manchester, NH                          Lebanon NH      

The Chemo I received back on the 13th was 6 times stronger than anyone gets at one time.  I held up really well for the first 4 bags of drugs but in all there were 9 bags of drugs and hydration (I'll not go into detail about how I held up with the other 5 bags).  It required that I return on Tuesday for help with dealing with side effects.

Daily shots of  stem cell growth drugs and every other day blood draws filled up most of my week.  What I was told would happen or even could happen DID happen. Dealing with side effects was no fun either and I will not share that with you.

You're Welcome!

Through it all, we had God on our side. We knew it and we felt it. We saw Him use other people to let us know that we were not alone.  We have a God that Hubby and I have a history with. A history where He is there to comfort, to care, to listen to our tears, to give us strength and to cheer us on and laugh with us. He is not someone "Up there Somewhere", He is personal, He is our savior.  It's a long history and long histories are good.  We would remember other times when He was holding our hand.  We reminded each other about that.  Through it all we had HIM, God, Jehovah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Yahweh.

We also had each other.  We have a 42 plus year history honoring our vows. For Better for Worst, in Sickness and in Health.  We knew together - all 3 of us- that no matter the physical outcome, We Were OK

We also had family members and friends who checked on us, kept sick family members away from us, checked our house, took in our mail, and started our pellet stove to warm up the house. Some friends sent IM's to check on me, sent out mass emails to spread the word on us and in so many ways  reminded us that we were not fighting this alone.

Battle Scars? Yes, but instead of dwelling on them, I will dwell on the joys and the fun of being alive. I am not the same person.

Popping In

Just popping in to let you all know that I'm alive.  I've had the chemo and it was as terrible as I was told. I'm now in the process of growing stems cells which means shots every day for the next week and blood test to see just how many I'm growing. It hurts - it burns - and it rots but I'm still here and not planning on giving in or giving up.  Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts. I feel them.  If you could also pray for good weather, our January Thaw is about to end as we head north to harvest. The weather states more snow and very cold temps.  Thanks and I'll be back.