Elphie's home!

Our new puppy came home today, and she is such a sweet dog. She's a beautiful Boston Terrier, pure bred with AKC registration papers. Elphie's name comes from Elphaba Thropp, from "Wicked: the Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," one of my FAVORITE books. Lady, our Chihuahua, seems excited to have another puppy in the house. My brother & sister-in-law are here from Missouri with their new puppy also, so it's just a puppy party at our house right now!

Lady & Elphie were sniffing each other for awhile, but tails were wagging! They'll be best buddies in no time.


The other dog in the background is Kenneth & Shelley's schnauzer named Chloe. The three puppies were walking in a circle sniffing each other's butts; where's a video camera when you need one?

Our new puppy

This is our new puppy, the black & white Boston Terrier on the right. The red and white Boston went home to my friend Emily, and her name is Piper. We decided to name our puppy Elphaba and call her Elphie for short. For those who don't recognize the name, it's the wicked witch of the west from the book / Broadway show "Wicked." We met her tonight, but can't bring her home until we pay the rest of the deposit. She'll come home on Monday, and we can't wait! Boston Terrier's are the best!

Dad's progress

Thanks to everyone whose kept Austin's dad in their prayers... here's a brief update on his health.

He had surgery today, very last minute and last resort. He's been in the hospital with pancreatitis for the last three weeks and during treatment he got a blood infection, was septic, found a mass on top of the pancreas that was increasing in size, developed high fevers (103 and 104), became anemic and his blood got "too thin" (they had to give him platelets to thicken it up before surgery), developed internal bleeding, and some other smaller things.

The surgery went well... they had to remove his gall bladder, appendix (who needs that anyway?) and part of the pancreas that was already "dead." They also removed the pseudo-cyst that was developing on top of the pancreas, that was filling with blood and growing in size. They also removed part of his intestines and bowels (isn't that the same thing?). The infection spread to basically every organ that's anywhere near the pancreas. There's a possibility of future surgeries, but he's awake now and seems to be recovering ok. It's still early, and he'll be in ICU for a few more days, and in a regular room for 1 to 2 more weeks, but we're optimistic. The gall bladder is what actually caused the pancreatitis in the first place, they discovered 5 gall stones that weren't seen on any of his x-rays.

The kids said really sweet prayers for grandpa today after school, before the actual surgery, and then again at bedtime to thank Heavenly Father for answering their first prayers. Children have such pure and simple faith, and it strengthens mine.

Dad, we're glad you're on the road to recovery. We love you!

Mom & Dad, September 2008

Boston Terriers

These pictures are for Emily, who has enlightened me about Boston Terriers. That is definitely going to be my next dog. Thanks for introducing me to Chester, he's adorable!

Max & Lady

This is our sweet little Teddy Bear hampster, Max. He freaks out our dog, Lady.


How could something so small and so cuddly scare a dog?!


Anything is possible with this dog, whom we affectionately call "Chicken Dog." Just look at her giving him the evil eye!




Lady REALLY wants to get close to Max so she can figure him out. I'm not sure what her intentions are, to sniff him or digest him. We sure do love our pets.

Grace's bedtime

I was tucking Grace in tonight and she took her toy cell phone with her. Of course it beeps and rings, but I made a compromise. I pick my battles. After I sang her three songs (her nightly request), she pulled out the cell phone and said she had to call Grandpa now. Her grandpa Lawlor has been in the hospital for the past two weeks with pancreatitis. I told her that was fine, and she said "I just want to call Grandpa to see if I can feel him better." Sometimes the sweetest things come out of her mouth. :)

Saturday Night Live Opening Skit

I am a big supporter of Sarah Palin, and this skit is hillarious! Palin even commented that she thought it was funny, especially since she once dressed as Tina Fey for Halloween.

Dude's and Diva's

Today was picture day at school, and Austin wanted to get pictures of the kids before the ride on the bus and recess ruined their groomed appearances. They do love posing!



Grace also likes to dress up, but there doesn't need to be a special occasion. I asked her to go get dressed for pre-school this morning, and this is what she came back with. I don't think I asked her to get ready for a royal ball... She came out of her room in that dress and asked me which shoes matched it the best, and then asked if I would paint her fingernails too. She's such a girly girl!

Crash!

My computer has been running pretty slow lately, so I decided to back up all my files and reformat. I burned everything to disks, Cd's and DVD's, and started deleting files. I went back to check my disks because there was some stuff I was still actively working on, only to find out that the burning failed. I never got an error message, according to my computer everything turned out just fine. But the disks are blank. I lost journals, family photos, and digital scrapbook pages. If it wasn't for blogging, I would have lost everything. I was able to recover so many family photos from blogspot, and I'm more thankful than ever for this website!!! Also I bought some software that recovers permanently deleted files, unless they've already been written over, and I got some of my stuff back. The rest of it is lost forever... I just have to start from scratch again, and be better about backing stuff up more often, and in more than one place.

Sweet Gracie

Grace loves watching the Barbie movies, and her greatest desire is to become a princess one day. Lucky for her, she already is a princess! She watches these movies until it wears her out. :)

How many dogs does it take to change a lightbulb?

I LOVE dogs, all shapes, sizes and breeds. This joke made me laugh because each breed is so unique, even in the way they approach household chores :)

1. Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out lightbulb?




2. Border Collie: Just one. Then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.





3. Dachshund: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!






4. Rottweiler: Make me.







5. Boxer: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.







6. Lab: Oh, me, me!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeze, please, please, please?!






7. German Shepherd: I'll change it as soon as I've led these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and just one more perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.





8. Jack Russell Terrier: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture.





9. Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? I'm sorry, but I don't see a light bulb!






10. Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.






11. Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb. Or 'we don't need no stinking light bulb.'







12. Greyhound: It isn't moving. Who cares?





13. Australian Shepherd: First, I'll put all the lightbulbs in a little circle....







14. Poodle: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's earand he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

Best Tattoo Ever!

I'm not a big fan of tattoos, but this is the best one I've ever seen! If Austin ever loses his hair... hmm...

Midnight Sun

This article was e-mailed to me by a friend, and it makes me sad. I was really looking forward to "Midnight Sun" and now it's indefinitely delayed because of someone's dishonesty.

Stephenie Meyer drops new book after Web leak

Wed Sep 3, 9:32 AM ET

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Author Stephenie Meyer, writer of the best-selling young adult "Twilight" books, has put the fifth and final installment in the series on hold in protest after a partial draft was posted on the Internet.

Meyer, the U.S. author of "Twilight" and its sequels "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn," said she had a good idea of how the leak of "Midnight Sun" had happened as so few copies had left her hands and each was unique.

The novel tells the love story of a human teenager named Bella and her vampire lover, Edward.

"The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that, as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution," she wrote in a posting on her website.

But Meyer, 34, said this was a huge violation of her rights of an author as well as her rights as a human being as she owned the copyright and had the say when the book should be made public.

She said musicians and filmmakers also had the same rights and it was dishonest of anyone to download material off the Internet and to reproduce and distribute it.

"This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control," wrote Meyer.

"I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on "Midnight Sun," and so it is on hold indefinitely."

Meyer said the draft that was released on the Internet was incomplete with messy and flawed writing but she was making this draft available to everyone to be a fair and because it added a new dimension to the "Twilight" story.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Matthew Jones)

What's in a name?

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was hillarious, so here goes:

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Lizzie Venture
2. My gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor and favorite cookie): Butter Pecan Oreo
3. My "fly girl" name (first initial of first name and first 3 letters of last name): J Law (whoa, sounds a lot like J Lo… no resemblance, unfortunately)
4. My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Green Monkey
5. My soap opera name (middle name and city where you were born): No middle name… I’ll just make one up, like my sister Sharon did: Louise Mesa
6. My Star Wars name (first 3 letters of your last name and first 2 letters of your first name): LawJi
7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The Red Pepsi
8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers): Gerald James
9. My lounge singer name (name of your favorite perfume/cologne and your favorite candy): Pleasures Chocolate
10. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Mom didn’t have a middle name… so again, I’ll just make one up! Rebecca Lynn

Too funny! What are yours?

First day of school!

Today is Gracie's first day of preschool, and she is so excited to be just like her brother and sister! Preschool even covers lunchtime, so she got a brand new lunchbox. She's growing up so fast! She's been asking me every 15 minutes since 7:45 this morning if it was time to go yet, and school starts at 11:30. Since school is just down the street, she even gets to ride her bike to school. (A tricycle with mom walking right next to her).

Home, sweet home

This weekend was a three day weekend because of Labor Day, and my family went up to the cabin in Overgaard along with Grandma, Grandpa, and lots of cousins. The only one who didn't go was... me. I'm having some health issues related to my disease, I've had to stop my medication while my white blood count goes back up and my liver cleans itself out. My doctor suggested I stay away from people for awhile since I'm likely to catch every germ in a ten mile radius. So I had a four day weekend to myself, just me, the dog & the hampster. Needless to say, it was very quiet. I also got a lot of cleaning done, I was a real weekend warrior (when I wasn't resting). I scrubbed baseboards and dusted ceiling fans, I shampooed the carpet and finally got rid of those otter pop & yogurt stains, I wielded the screw gun like a pro and finished some home improvement projects, (I only fell down the stairs once) and I missed my family. True, when I cleaned something up it stayed that way for more than 15 minutes without the kids in the house, but I'm not sure it was worth the tradeoff. I sure am glad to have them back home, even if it means my sparkling clean house will be just a distant memory by the time school gets out tomorrow. I love my family, and I'm grateful they had fun and then came home safe. And my health is improving, so the next time there's a big trip to the cabin, mom gets to go too.