ALL Dog owners NEED to read this!!!! *ALERT Important* Don't let your doggie have this near tragedy like mine is!

This one tonight i fear is a bit more serious than my normal tales and antics of my little house of princesses. (and now prince puppy as I like to call him...doesn't he look like he thinks he is one there?)

I want to be sure ANYONE you know who has a dog is aware of this, because from what I understand, and have found out today, most people do not know this.

Dogs can NOT tolerate gum.  The sugar free kind.  The ingredient to be exact Xylitol.  It is LETHAL for them!!!!

I write this after having one of those "when it rains it pours" kind of days.  And the ending was the thunderstorm, lightning show and downpour all in one.

It is only by the grace of God that my sweet little pup Bucky is alive at all right now. (If you dont know, my little ones have begged for years for a doggie of their own, and I wrote about our newest family member (3 weeks ago) here)

See, at 4 I dropped off the girls at dance, and as always I left the little stinker in the car for the 5 minutes it takes me to walk in and out.  When I came back out I found this....

Empty on my seat.  I chew it often, so I knew there were 7 or so pieces left.  My initial thought, I'll be honest here,  DUMB DOG.  But then I thought about how we swallow gum and it uhhhh appears again at a later time, ya catch my drift??  But for some reason, I had this nagging in the back of my head.

So once I arrived back home, I found the vets number and called them.  They told me to bring him in right away.  My first thought to this was, "are you kidding me?"  It can't be THAT serious.  My second thought, I JUST (like an hour ago) put a furnace in and I really don't feel like another bill.

As I was talking to the vet, I checked snopes, and it said that it is no rumor or exaggeration.  I didn't read any further to find what would happen, I just packed my guy up.

 I dragged my fun loving guy in to be forced to throw up.  I then went to pick up the girls from dance and come back still not realizing the type of effects that were happening so quickly.

In the short time from him arriving to me coming back, a total of about 40 minutes, his blood sugar (I believe, glucose) dropped from a fairly normal 140 to 60.

I guess that a 3g of Xylitol (2 trident sticks) can KILL a 65 lb dog!!  Poor Bucky is only 11 lbs!

The things that happen upon ingestion include, fatigue, nausea, loss of coordinaton, and seizures  All of these happen with in 30 minutes of ingestion!  Once this has happened, if the animal doesn't get to a vet, they will die!  From brain injury and more.  It also can attack their livers.  I am unclear if this will affect his liver in the future as of now or not.

So I learned that gum isn't the only culprit either, there are more foods with the sweetener in it.  She informed me STORE BOUGHT cupcakes (bakery kind) have it in them and a dog shouldn't ingest that either (though it will be a much less does than the gum)  There is a list f foods they shouldn't have.

So PLEASE take this seriously!  As my sweet Bucky lay in a hospital on IV's literally fighting for his life.  (Side note she did seem to think he will make a full recovery, because I got him in so fast (15 minutes from ingestion))

PLEASE pass this on and post it on your wall as a warning to all your friends and family who own and love their doggies!!!

Thank you.

Do you like Chocolate? Do you like cookies?

 What about chocolate chip cookies?
What am I saying, EVERYONE loves cookies!!

And you tell me WHAT mom wouldn't love a "baked out of the oven cookie, with out even having to turn the oven on!!!"  Ahhh I have your attention now don't I??

Ok so its review time, really.  I love giving HONEST feedback on products because I HATE wasting my time, its precious, and my money, cuz I'm cheap.  Ok well I need want more shoes.

Anyhow, I am a member of BZZ Agent.  Let me tell you, it is amazing, you get FULL sized FREE totally FREE (remember the cheap?) products to try and then share your opinion about and share some free samples and coupons.

So if you are interested in signing up, please go take a look at their page here, but make SURE if you tell them that alianalyssas mom referred you!  Ok?  Deal?

Anyhow, they signed me up for Kroger brand Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I was quite skeptical that any store brand cookie could be that good.  Good yes, but amazing?

Well let me tell you.

I got the box in the mail, and first of all they sent me TWO boxes.  So a few days after getting the kit, I decided to open them with my two youngest.

 

 What a little hamhock right?!

COOKIE, COOKIE mama!  She Loved her cookies!

Let me tell you, they really are AH-Mazing!!!  YUM.  Like a crunchy Chips a Hoy, but SOOOO much better!  Why you are wondering are they better?  Well first of all they are bigger, and really when it comes to cookies, bigger is always better!  And second of all they have an amazing amount of chocolate chips in them  They did not scrimp on these, and to this professed choc a holic, that is GREAT news!

So anyhow, on the package and in the kit it suggests warming them in the microwave.  This seemed an odd request, given their crumbly status.  I was very reluctant to try them this way.  But, I figured what can I loose.

LET ME TELL YOU.  I soooo shouldn't have waited to the last 3 cookies!!  Oh my golly gosh goodness, they taste like REAL OUT OF THE OVEN cookies!  They were sooooo moist and melty.  Oh goodness, I get giddy thinking of it!

However, after 2 cookies for each girl, I was sad to announce to Lissy today, when she asked for another cookie, that they were all gone.  Why she asked, the box is right there on the counter.  I had to admit to her that it was there because mommy had to steal the last three cookies I was saving for them!  OOOPS.

So, if you live by any type of Kroger store, one that sells the brand, go out and get your self some!!  And if you live by me, I still have 3 1$ off coupons, just leave me a message here and I will get it to ya!

The day that just keeps on giving and giving!

Ever have one of those days?  The one where you say, "it just can't get any worse?"

And then you wonder why you had to challenge fate?

I did that just this morning.  My hubby is still away on business and my mother in law had a really early morning flight.  After saying good-bye all seemed good upon waking, until my Lissy Cakes came in the living room saying her tummy hurt.

Me being the good mom I am, said, ok well that is fine, why don't you just get dressed anyhow and you will probably be fine. At that simple suggestion she ran to the bathroom, but nothing happened, so the ever concerned mom in me went with her into her room to dress her.  I guess you get what you ask for, because as I was buttoning up her pretty little bee jean dress for school, she proceeded to puke all over it, the floor, and yes, me.

In the meantime, I realize that though my thermostat is set at 71 degrees, the thermometer reads a balmy 62.  GREAT I think my furnace is trying to tell me something, something that I have been bugging hubby about for the past month and a half.  Added to my to do list...

Before heading to school I go in to wake a very crabby baby up. She has bright red spots all over her tummy and is saying oweee.  Not sure what they are, but make the quick decision to put those on hold to proceed with morning drop off.

Still needed to get Alia to school however, so I rush over to the neighbors to ask if they can stay with the Cakes while I am gone to school.  They say yes, and I am rushing Alia out the door  Asking her to get her shoes on, ANY shoes on for the FOURTH time, she says, MOM, my tights are wet and they smell really bad. 

I go over, she SAT in DOG PEE.  DANG dog!   Now I remember one of the reasons I didn't want one.  He's lucky he is cute!

She goes and changes her clothing and we head out to take her to school.

I get back and get the sick little girl and spotted baby ready to go to my MOMS meeting that I run.  Had to go because I am the one who sets up the speakers, and it is a good thing I did, because amongst all my chaos I forgot to remind whoever it was had food, to bring it, so.....we had none.  Nope not a morsel. 

 Let me tell you, you can NOT run a meeting for a bunch of women, mothers at that, and not have goodies of their very own, with no sharing, for them to munch on! A riot could break out!

So I run out while the speaker is speaking and buy doughnuts and fruit. 

While I was busy attending to the moms, my sweet little spotted stinker decided a kleenex box might be the fun thing to keep her busy, and as I walk out to where they are, this is what I see.......

A collector of Kleenex....

 

We are now all finally home and the two little girls are napping.  Lissy was feeling better, and the babies spots were almost faded....And I am praying for a simpler rest of my day!!!


Note to self: never challenge fate...wait didn't I say that a while back?!

DIY Look what I did

Ok so I don't have a ton of in between pictures, because I am half stealing this idea from my MOPS group.  She cam up with the general idea, and I just "embellished" on that.  Hehe, with embellishments...ya get it?  Ok it's late.sorry  :)

Anyhow if you are anything like me, you have a budding artist, or three occupying your home, which has in turn become an array of art shows.  Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming....and this is the perfect solution.  A board where you can rotate pictures in and out as much as you want.

So to start you take a board, any size really but long enough you can space clips out for pictures.

Make sure you have a spot drilled or what not on the back for screws so you can hang it

Then you are ready to start.  Just sand it a bit..and then use acrylic paint, which dries very fast, in any color you choose.  When it is dry, say about 20 minutes if you put it on thin, take a piece of sand paper and distress it a bit.

I only did around the edges because if I tried on the face of the wood it didn't look so hot..

Next I decided (and this is where I veered from my "craft") it wasn't enough to just paint it.  I found a piece of scrapbook paper I liked and modge podged it onto the board.  I then found matching embellishments and "fufued" it away  :)

Lastly take three clothes pins and pretty those up.  I used scrapbook paper and sparkles for mine.

Once they are all made up, hot glue them out.  But be sure to leave enough space for your pictures to hang.

And worlaa!  You are done and your kiddos have their own gallery!  Pretty cute hu?

Kujo, aka, Killer, aka Bucky, aka, the D O G

Yep as most of you know, we have put off, made excuses, and bought time up the wazoo when it comes to getting a dog.

However my 4 year old has been in LOVE, I mean LOOVE with the mangy little things since she could bark, er um, talk.

Every where we drive, "LOOOK MOM a dog!"  (at times i admit to silently going DUH, yes it's a dog) 

And then there is the playing she IS A DOG.  Interesting to see your little girl, crawling around with a leash trying to be a dog, even eating out of a bowl like a dog.

And the most recent development, she has her little sister being a dog.  it is like they hypnotized her, whenever they say "dog".  She gets down and starts crawling, saying "arrrf arrrrf:

I had dogs growing up, hubby did not.  I loved them when i WASN'T mom, wasn't the one to take care of them.  Since that moment has passed, I was less than thrilled about getting a "D O G"

My hubby even less so.  We had a laundry list of what a dog we got needed to be/have.  Quiet, not yippy, not shed, not drool, not need walks all the time, be good alone at times, not jump on your or knock you over, etc etc.

Well, one day, these three little princesses all had him cornered asking for that D O G.  The laundry list of excuses had been met, and they were pleading their case that it was in fact time to get a dog.

If there is one thing that can bring a sane man to his knees, it is the pleading eyes of three little girls.  All who have wrapped themselves tightly around his fingers.

So, we go, to check it out..."we;re not buying any tho" he says.

 

And we leave, (with mans best friend) with the intention of two days later, he convinces me we need this dog.

So here he is, as if he has always been a part of the family.  Hubby fell in love with him right away, however has lovingly dubbed him Kujo, because he is so protective of the girls already.

 

He goes to sleep on their beds, and if we make a noise, one as quiet as a mouse, he will start barking as if the house was caving in. 

Meet, Killer....I mean "Bucky" (yes the girls named him after Bucky Badger from the WI badgers)

The funniest part?  He actually met all our above qualifications.  He really is a great dog, and a wonderful addition to our family.  Another mouth to feed, yet another adventure to be had, and three little girls BEST firend!  Alyssa can't stop telling everyone she got a D O G.  She loves saying it that way, probably since she has heard it since the beginning of time.