The Face of Trouble—Part Two

If you have been reading my blog for a while you might remember this post.

“The Face of Trouble” (aka “Bo,” one of our German Shepherds) has struck again and this time he REALLY got himself into BIG TROUBLE.

Almost life or death trouble.

The kind of trouble  that required emergency surgery which resulted in this BIG incision in his belly.

One afternoon last week, he vomited.  Then he proceeded to vomit after he finished his dinner, and a few more times throughout the evening. 

I mentioned to my husband that several days before, I had seen him shredding his toy rope.  When I saw he was tearing it up, I pulled the loose strings out of his mouth and threw the rope in the garbage. 

It was a big German Shepherd sized toy rope just like this one…

We once had a German Shepherd that got an obstruction in her intestines after she chewed up a tennis ball and swallowed the pieces without our knowledge.  Repeated vomiting was her first symptom.  Between our 18 hour delay in getting her to the vet (because we thought she just had an upset stomach) and the vet waiting an additional 24 hours to see if she would pass it naturally, she almost died.  Fortunately, after the pieces of the tennis ball were removed surgically, she eventually recovered and lived many more years.

In Bo’s case, we were quicker to put 2 and 2 together.

Shredded toy rope

plus

repeated vomiting over a span of several hours

equals

trip to animal emergency clinic at 10:00 p.m.

After preliminary x-rays, the emergency clinic vet said she suspected a malignant tumor  was pressing on Bo’s stomach.    

That news was quite a shock because he has been perfectly fine.  Typical Bo...VERY good appetite, no weight loss, VERY good energy, absolutely nothing to  even remotely suggest  he might have a malignant tumor.  

I just kept thinking it HAD to be an obstruction of some foreign substance he ingested… very possibly part of that darn rope I caught him chewing up!

The vet wanted to put him on IV fluids and monitor him for a few hours and then repeat the x-rays.  She said she would call us at 6:30 a.m. to report his condition, or earlier if his situation deteriorated to the point she felt they needed to do emergency surgery.

The vet did call at 6:30 a.m.  She said he was basically the same so she wanted to refer him to a specialty clinic for an ultrasound.   Three vets at the specialty clinic looked at his x-rays and they were also convinced he had a malignant tumor because his x-ray results didn’t look consistent with an obstruction. 

After ultrasound, the diagnosis was foreign body obstruction… which was serious but certainly much better news than malignant tumor,  for sure!

So off to surgery he went.

$4400.00 later (um, no that’s not a typographical error…unfortunately) the obstruction had been surgically removed and we knew the source…

a mass of strings from the toy rope!

He’s home now and resting, getting lots of sympathetic hugs and kisses,  but this surgery has obviously taken the wind out of his sails for a while. 

(He’s wearing a t-shirt to discourage him from licking and chewing at the staples .  It hangs down over his incision but isn’t as big and bulky as one of those cone-shaped collars.)

I’ve Got Nothin’ But “Censational Girl” Does!

Seems like I’ve been busy as a bee but can’t really say I’ve accomplished much worth sharing here.

The laundry room at the house in Hooterville is still a work in progress but inasmuch as we had to special order some of the cabinets for the sink wall, we are at somewhat of a standstill until they come in.

I didn’t want you to think I had dropped off the face of the earth so in the meantime, if you want to see a really AWESOME laundry room makeover, go over and check out what Kate at Censational Girl did to her laundry room.  

Here’s a sneak peek…

Photo source:  Censational Girl

Cute! Cute! Cute!  Yes?  The girl is seriously talented!

If you need to know more details, Kate shared the breakdown of products/sources for the makeover in this post.  

Cute Checkbook Covers

My hubby and I have a total of four checking accounts we use for different purposes.  Since we haven’t completely moved from My Cottage of Bliss into the house in Hooterville yet,  we are essentially keeping two households running so, as you can well imagine, the checkbooks are in constant use. 

Recently, I decided writing checks might not be such a dreaded chore if I had a cute checkbook cover for the My Cottage of Bliss “household account” that I always  keep in my purse.  

I found that Etsy has a wide variety of checkbook covers to chose from.

After much deliberation, I finally decided on this pretty paisley fabric cover created by Michelle at O.C. Styles Creations.

 Photo source:  O.C. Styles Creations

Although I thought the bow was a cute touch, I surmised it would take a real beating in my purse so  I asked Michelle if it would be possible to  remove the bow but keep the flat sage grosgrain ribbon as an accent.  She was more than happy to accommodate my request.

When the checkbook cover arrived a few days later, I was amazed at Michelle’s sewing talent.   The cover is beautifully constructed.  Every stitch is just perfect.  The ribbon loop for holding a pen is a very nice convenience.

I was loving my cute new checkbook cover so much I decided I wanted to treat myself to another one for the house in Hooterville “Remodeling Fund” checkbook I also carry in my purse.  I went back on the  Etsy site and ordered this cover made from cheerful aqua and green Amy Butler fabric by Monica at BitsOHoney Designs.

photo source:  BitsOHoney Designs

Again, the workmanship is superior and I LOVE the button closure feature.  It keeps everything neat and tidy and gosh, do I ever love neat and tidy!  :) 

In addition to an inside  pocket for  cards, receipts or cash, Monica has also included  a clear sleeve for a driver's license (but I use it to hold my debit card).

photo source:  BitsOHoney Designs

With these bright and cheerful fabrics, it is now so much easier to spot the checkbook I need in my purse but, best of all, they just put a smile on my face every time I have to pull  one of them out  to write a check!

Ahhhh….the little things in life.

What little things put a smile on your face?

Laundry Room Storage

I’m in storage  heaven!

Hubby and I worked on putting storage cabinets in the wonderful GINORMOUS laundry room at the house in Hooterville this weekend.

This long blank wall went from this…

to this. 

I wanted to utilize this wall to its fullest potential so we used one 48 inch cabinet in the center and two 36 inch cabinets…one placed on each side of the 48 incher.  These cabinets are from Lowe’s. 

The shelves are all adjustable so that will give me  lots of storage flexibility and I’m sure it will be  fun getting everything all organized neatly.

The cabinets  flanking the washer/dryer on the opposite side of the room are “create your own” stacking modular units.  The unit on the left is  two “floor cabinets” (with doors) separated by one open “shelf unit” in the middle.   On the right is a “wardrobe” cabinet stacked on top of one “3-drawer unit.”   It will be nice that when clothes come out of the dryer, I can hang them right up on the convenient hanger rod in the wardrobe cabinet.

I couldn’t get the exact cabinet configurations I wanted all from one source so I ordered the modular cabinets  from the JCPenney catalog online site.  The style and color of them  are almost identical to the cabinets from Lowe’s so I don’t think anyone will  realize they aren’t from the same manufacturer.

We still have some electrical plug issues to deal with on the washer/dryer wall and I need to decide on a window treatment.

I  finally found an old farm table to use for folding clothes.  It will be undergoing a little cosmetic metamorphosis sometime in the near future.

And I’m still working on the cabinet configuration for the wall in the photo below but  upper and lower cabinets, a sink, and something to hide the hot water heater is planned so I hope to have that finished and ready to share with you in the next few weeks.

 

Linking up to:

The 70th Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

The Coastal Living Collection By Stanley Furniture

I love the beach cottage look.

I also love pastels.

So when I was out shopping for furniture for the house in Hooterville and saw the beach cottage-inspired collection of furniture Coastal Living magazine and Stanley Furniture have created, I almost flipped!

There are 14 different (yummy) colors and finishes, all organized into three color palettes. 

You pick the piece(s) of furniture you want, select the color(s)/finish(es) and the result is a very personalized look for your room!

Isn’t this dining room  just exquisite in these colors?

  

 

Normally, I’m not gung ho about wood grains but I thought this finish called “Boardwalk” was exceptionally pretty.  I’m contemplating getting the  TV console (but not the upper hutch) in the above photo in “Boardwalk” for the family room.

I loved this gorgeous bed in the lime green called “sea grass”  (although I think it looks more yellow than green in this photo).

 

I had a chance to see the bed in person in the aqua color called “Sea Mist” and I loved that too!

In fact, I love the aqua and lime green together so much that I am mulling over some ideas about ways to incorporate lime green with the aqua in the master bedroom at the house in Hooterville. 

Hmmmm….if I only had a beach cottage instead of a horse farm in the country, I would truly love a whole house full of this beautiful furniture collection.  There wasn’t a single piece (or color) I didn’t like.

If you want to see more of the Coastal Living Collection, or find a retailer near you that sells it, you can go to the Stanley Furniture website.

Disclaimer:  I have absolutely no affiliation with Coastal Living or Stanley Furniture,  nor have I received any compensation from them  to mention the Coastal Living line of furniture here.

Jolie’s Little Filly (& the Blog Birthday Giveaway Winner)

For those interested in the house in Hooterville  decorating posts, I promise they will resume shortly because I do have some new things to show you.

However, for now, I hope you will indulge me while I show you a few  more photos of the sweet little foal that was born at our farm last Friday night.  I really do kind of feel like a proud grandma!  ;)

 

 

Any concerns we had about the possibility of the mother,  Jolie, not allowing anyone to get close to her foal were unfounded.  She is being an awesome, attentive mother but still allowing us to pet and get to know her baby under her watchful eye.

I love these next three photos of Daughter meeting the foal up close and very personal.

  

Jolie will only reluctantly let me briefly touch her nose so I was surprised when she even allowed me to come into the stall to get acquainted with her baby.

We were having  a lovely little visit…

 

until she stepped in closer to me and…

She didn’t have her foot just propped up on mine…she was standing with her full weight on it which resulted in an UGLY  grimace of pain  on my face until I could push her back enough to extract my foot.

Jolie is part draft horse so the foal is big and estimated to weigh  at least  125 pounds .

Ouch.

Daughter is having a hard time deciding on a name for the foal (which is  a girl) so I told her I would ask my readers.   There is no prize involved but if anyone has any ideas come to mind, Daughter is open to suggestions.

********************

Also, a  sincere thanks to all who stopped by to congratulate me on the first birthday of my blog and enter my blog birthday giveaway.  It really has been a fun first year as a blogger.  I’ve said this before but  I really and truly appreciate everyone who takes time out of their busy day to visit, especially with all of the wonderful blogs to chose from in Blogland.  

To see the winner of the giveaway

CLICK HERE

She selected the 3 in 1 gift card, good for purchases at  HomeGoods,  TJMaxx  or  Marshalls and I hope she enjoys her mini shopping spree courtesy of My Cottage of Bliss. 

 

There’s a New Baby at Windswept Farm!

Not quite four hours ago, around 8:35 p.m. (Eastern time) Friday night, Daughter’s PMU rescue mare, Jolie,  had her foal. 

I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t at the house in Hooterville at the time so I didn’t get to witness the birth  but Daughter emailed me one of the first photos of the  foal, taken right after she was born. 

The picture was taken with a cell phone so the quality is not very good but I’ll get more photos this weekend and share them in a few days, along with the winner of my blog birthday giveaway. 

EDITED TO ADD 2 NEW PHOTOS THAT WERE JUST EMAILED TO ME:

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie Or In Other Words…Watch Where You Step!

We haven’t actually “officially” moved into the house in Hooterville yet so we have the TV temporarily set up in what will eventually be the office.  It’s a rather small room with dimensions of approximately 10 feet x 14 feet.   

The other night I got up to leave the room and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this  obstacle course of sleeping dogs I had to navigate just to get to the door! 

 

That’s Jasmin on the right, Bo at the bottom of the photo, and the “rescue” Shepherd my daughter adopted several months ago, Logan, is on the left.

German Shepherds are great, loyal, family-oriented dogs and these three are no exception.  No matter what we are doing, they are ALWAYS close by…

even if we are just watching TV.