five senses friday

every friday, i'm going to post a "dear diary" piece that i'm going to call "five senses friday."  i can't take any credit for this; i saw it on lovely blog, Dancing Branflakes, and i thought it was such a neat idea.  so here goes.  feel free to comment and post yours as well!

footnote: yeah, yeah, so i know today isn't even friday but i forgot to publish it yesterday. stick with me here. it's been a long week!

Dear Diary,


Today...


i love the smell of
a newborn infant's head, particularly this one sweet baby named kyla.


i love the sound of
my sweet maggie's bark.


i love the taste of
fresh tomatoes from the garden with salt and pepper.


i love the sight of
my brother as a father.


i love the feel of
high thread count bamboo sheets fresh out of the dryer.

now, it's your turn.  what are your five senses this week?

sweet weenie

my sweet weenie dog, maggie, woke up to a not-so-good thing saturday morning.  she went outside, did her thing and then came in and couldn't walk.  bam.  just like that.  her back legs would hardly function.

we took her to the only vet in the area that was open on saturday mornings and he proceeded to give her a steroid shot in her back and advised that we keep close eye on her over the course of the week to make sure the condition didn't get worse.  and if it did, surgery may be required.  but wait a week, then reassess.

well, thank goodness we are educated people with a somewhat good dose of common sense and we looked into this "disk disease" on the internet.  according to every single article we read, this disease is very common in dachshunds and is most often referred to as IVDD.  and it's serious. everything said that if surgery was to be done, it HAD to be done in the first 24 hours of onset.  if not, the dog would have a 5% chance or less of ever walking again.  paralysis, people.

and the vet that morning mentioned nothing of the sort.

so we bundled her up in her snuggie and took her to an animal emergency hospital about an hour from home.  a neurosurgeon was called in and confirmed that we had made the right decision.  maggie was rushed into emergency surgery, as one of her disks had ruptured.  at this point, she had no movement in her back legs at all, nor was her tail wagging.  the doctor explained that since the surgery was being done in that 24 hour window that her chances of walking again were around 95%.  had we waited till sunday (or heaven forbid a week), not so much.

so that was saturday. today is thursday. 

maggie is home and is slowly showing small movements in her back legs.  bless her sweet heart.  she is doing well, but certainly has a long road ahead of her.

if you have a weenie dog, it is so important that you do everything you can to keep them from jumping on and off furniture and going up and down stairs continually. their little backs are so delicate and they are the #1 breed of dog that is susceptible to this disease.  we were fortunate that we did our research, didn't trust the first opinion and were financially able to do this for our sweet dog.

with that said, maggie would like to show off her battle wounds....

welcome home surprises

to help welcome my brother's new little family home, i thought i'd go over while they were still in the hospital and hang some curtains.

easier said than done.

if you know me at all, you know that i cannot just stop there. their walls were blank and they gave me their blessing to do as i wanted.  anytime someone tells me, "go ahead, i trust you," ...it's like music to my ears.

so i hung the curtains.  and then i kept going.
and  in the end, they came home to:

...a new wreath on their front door

...new pillows for the couches...

...a revamped lamp (this is the before)

 

...and this is the after.   i just wrapped it with some spray adhesive and sisal and voila!

...a new side table, mirror and decorative urn that i loooove...

...some new handpainted artwork that is going to be hung above the desk, along with some new shelves...

...a new ficus tree, doormats and framed prints of them

...and of course, new curtains!

mama and i worked hard to get it all done before they got home and luckily we got just about everything accomplished.  

they already had a great house and now it's a lovely home.

 

meet kyla jane

our beautiful, absolutely perfect niece

kyla jane

born 7/18/10

12:52 a.m.

7 lb 12 oz

20 inches 

summer party 2: mama's surprise retirement party

a week after the big bbq shindig, i threw mama a surprise retirement party. yes, i tried to do too much in a matter of a week, but it was so much fun! and i left for a week of nothing but waves and sand the very next weekend, so it was all good...

so, mom finally ended a 32 35 year teaching career....teaching elementary school, mind you.  there are a lot of teachers in my family, but i can honestly say that i absolutely got NONE of that "educatin'" gene.  God bless her and all those teachers out there because goodness knows what they have to put up with!

she truly had no idea that we had organized a surprise for her...she thought she was going to a baby shower for ashton (we sent her a fake invite in the mail)  so, she bit the bait and arrived at her own party with a baby gift in hand. priceless!

arriving....confused....

...annnnd she's figured it out!

the venue before the party started-isn't it pretty? it's the old train depot in my hometown of westminster, sc. unfortunately, some jerkwad burned it down a few years ago, but the town completely rebuilt it.  the colors are gorgeous and the floors are original.  they un-nailed each board and flipped them over, so now the burned part is on the underside...cool, huh?

decoration-wise, i made martha stewart's pom poms (always perfect for any occasion and so easy to make) and i also made a pennant banner with black construction paper and chalk.  what can i say? 

i like cheap and cute. :-)

the theme was granny smith apple green and black. of course it had to have an apple theme! 

(so original, i know...)

a close up of the banner (click it make it bigger)

the entrance table

 

no time to make 70-something caramel apples, but these caramel apple suckers did just the trick!

i used handwriting paper to write little placards on.

petey penguin comes to every major family event/holiday. he's a member of the family.

long story--i'll share it with you one day.

 i went online and made a crossword puzzle with facts about mama for everyone to do while they were waiting on her to get there.  they were a hit!

 

pencils for the crossword stuck

down in alphabet dry pasta

instead of a traditional guest book i bought "the giving tree" by shel silverstein and had everyone write personal messages to mom throughout the book as a keepsake for her.

 the start of the food table--i used mini chalkboards from michael's to note what was what.  i also used granny smith apples in vases with sticks to carry the theme through. 

...and can i just say that deli spirals from costco are a MUST for any event?  they are a lifesaver!  

and gooooooood!

 

of course we had to have a slideshow!

  

zack practicing his daddy-ing skills on sweet little parker

  

 mama with papa and grandmama

  

 us

  

 all of the teacher buddies

happy retirement to my wonderful mother!

summer party 1: the bbq shindig

last month, i threw 2 parties within 7 days of each other.

i am still recovering.

looking back, it was a whirlwind of trips to wal-mart, michael's and costco. but planning events is so fun to me and these two were worth every bead of sweat! 

the first party was for zack and ashton, who, as you may remember got married in May in florida.  since many of their friends and family weren't able to make the trip from south carolina to florida, they had a reception, so-to-speak, here at our house.  it was the first time we'd put big tents out on the lawn and pulled out all the stops--and it was great!

 the invitations i did were so fun and i loved how they turned out...mainly because i couldn't have made these for just anyone. it fit them just perfect!

black eyed peas and candles in mason jars with a bandana for centerpieces

 one of zack's friends with a message to him on a bottle of, um, er, well let's just say it's

 a very strong adult beverage that just might be made from corn and that frequents parties and gatherings in the southern area of the U.S.  :-)

as the sun starts to go down, the fun is getting ready to start

silly bands and bettin' games...doesn't get much better!

 the newlyweds!

note:  i was pretty much prohibited from posting anymore pics because they were all so hilarious and slightly incriminating. 

glad to finally celebrate with the new couple as they start their new life together. and i was also glad to see them get lots and lots of great gifts for their house!  

congrats, z&a!

fit for a princess

with the birth of my new niece rapidly approaching (as in, like, the next 2 weeks...), i spent my day yesterday getting her nursery in top form. i personally don't care for the ruffly pink, foo foo, everything-has-to-match, "theme-y" nursery.*  and thankfully, my sis-in-law agrees. another great things about the sis-in-law is that she could really care less what the finished product looked like, so long as it is done.  she pretty much let me do as i wanted in there and luckily she loved it!

*please note that there is nothing wrong with ruffly pink nurseries, it's just not my preference! i'm sure if you have one that it's lovely.

while the little niece is still yet unnamed, her title will aptly be princess.  i mean, any baby girl with a chandelier in their nursery is bound to be nothing but.....

 teamwork!...and a glimpse of the pretty furniture

 

little sophie dog is in for a bad surprise when the baby gets here and she realizes that this is not her bouncy seat...

the crib's on backorder (yikes!), but just imagine it right there under those lovely limbs...

i love the simplicity. it's girly without being "ruffly."  it's airy and light. the chandelier casts the best shadows that are way cooler than any mobile i could've put in there. it's simple without being plain.

it's just missing a beautiful baby girl who's already loved so very much...

...and her crib.