Sam Isaac Francis, Jr - March 24, 1936- November 29, 2010.

It was a long and tiring week around here, as my father passed away on Monday the 29th. He waited till we got home safely from our cruise. He was asleep when we visited for the last time, but I think he knew we were there.

Dad and I weren't always close - he was such a loner, but I am glad he was with us these last 4 months of his life.

Our friends rallied around us all week - keeping us sane and helping with anything that they could. And I cannot tell you how much Doug and I appreciate their love and support.

The funeral on Saturday was intimate, but it was perfect, and we had friends back at our house afterwards to celebrate his life and it was a very nice evening.

I miss you daddy.....

We Had a Fabulous Weekend!

What a great weekend we had. We had DH's 40th birthday party( thanks to ALL who made that a great success!!!) and Reilly and I had a good run at the last NADAC show of the year. He finally got a Q and in Regular of all things! He did his weave poles in a show for the first time ever, and I have to tell you I am a super proud mom!

I would love to wax poetic about the entire weekend and I really want to, but I feel like dog poop right now - I have picked up some kind of bug and it is taking all I have to sit upright here at work and type. SO, that being said, I am off to call the dr and see if I can get squeezed in, so I can get some meds - which will also lead to some sleep( I hope) for both me and DH.

Summer is over, or so we hope!

WOW, what a long hot summer it's been here in the south. Its been totally miserable temperature wise, and just busy as heck. We did find time to sneak off to Williamsburg in July right before all the craziness started and I think that helped keep us sane, although it was almost a thousand degrees there and DH ended up with a tick.

But on the news front ( drum roll please....) the DH is FINALLY turning FORTY!!!!! He's the last of the "old gang" to turn and we all can't wait. It gets tiring listening to how old we are and he's not ;).... So let's all raise a glass to him on Monday.

Also having a birthday of some number not to be named is my friend Luann, so Happy Birthday to you too Luann!

Reilly is doing well. He's a goofball, but he and dad are getting along like gangbusters so that's good.

Busy weekend ahead - but it's supposed to rain on Sunday and usher in that Fall weather so I say Bring IT ON!

A Little More Under Control

Life is getting a little more under control now that we have Dad on hospice and the visits are on a regular schedule. Reilly has gotten used to all the in and out of the house and he is almost inseparable from Dad when we are not home. It helps that Dad keeps treats in his room for him.

It's very sweet to watch Reilly go in and check on Dad. Whenever we go up the stairs, his room is the first place that he runs to poke his head in and he has to see what he's doing. When we get up in the morning, he immediately runs to his door wanting in.

I want to say how very thankful I am for our good friends. Without their( and you know who you are) physical and emotional support, this would have been a much more difficult time. There aren't too many people who would give up entire Saturdays to go and so some really heavy cleaning and lifting and I think that DH and I have the market cornered on those friends.... So our endless thanks to those who are there for us.

So right now, it's just a day to day thing. We've gotten back into a routine and are trying to be as normal as possible. Gym, Agility and dinner's out are the norm again and we are just hanging in there.

Tired - All I am is tired

Yep, this blog is going to be all about me today. And it's going to be short and sweet. You would think with everything that is going on in my life, I would have plenty to blog about- and technically I do. But the flip side is blogging and sharing things that I just don't feel like I want to put out there in cyberspace. Most of you know already what is going on with me, and to put it into words would be, not only a lot of effort, but an emotional burden.

That being said Reilly is fine, we are fine, just going through a lot right now. But thankfully we have wonderful friends who are supporting us through this difficult time.

Don't know when I will get to blog next, hopefully Reilly will do something utterly fun and silly and I an tell everyone about it.

The Life of Reilly

Oh what it would be like to be my dog! This past week we finally bit the bullet and enclosed the meadow below our house, or " the South Forty" as it is affectionately called.

It cost a bundle! Three gates and 698 feet of fence later and my dog is SO happy!!!

Friday night the fence was complete, so his BFF Gretchen came over and they had a lot of fun. Well, Reilly had fun, poor Gretch is a bit out of shape for that kind of running. But that's ok, we'll get her back in shape again.

Saturday morning Reilly got up BRIGHT and early ready to go down there to play. Unfortunately *I* was not up for going down there with him and the area is still new, so I am kind of still watching him when he's down there. ( Pretty soon he'll be able to go on his own).

We finally got down there Sat evening and played a bit. I was getting ready to head up to the house to get a drink and then call him up later when the coyotes started sounding off. So I thought better of leaving him down there alone.

Sunday morning when he got me up, I went down there with him and read my book, till he came up and told me he was ready to go back inside( this heat is killing us ALL!).

He's having a great time and I LOVE seeing him run full speed through the grass chasing his ball or frisbee! Last night he capped off his evening of play with a REALLY good roll in the grass. He was in heaven!

Summer is here!

Summer is definitely here - you can tell by the heat, the humidity and my hair :). Also my dog is not eating which is a sure indication that it's just too freaking hot. Period.

Another fine indicator of summer is the fact that we got through our Summer Classic horseshow. It's something that I look forward to every year, and this year was no exception. We have such a great crew out there - I love seeing everyone - trainers, riders and show committee people and we have such a good time. Thanks to everyone ( especially Camily) who worked their butts off all weekend.

Horseshow related, we stayed at the "horseshow" hotel again. This is a hotel that is so close to the horse park in Conyers it's just too convenient to pass up. Last year however, we chose to pass it up because we couldn't stand it anymore. Between the grubby furnishings, uncomfortable beds and missing light fixtures/towel bars/whatever - oh and the rodent poop, we were done.

This year they PROMISED that they had done 1.5 mil in renovations. So we were very very optimistic and decided to take our business back there. Seriously, you can't beat it, it's so easy to get back there for a break, it's hard to resist.

Well um, I don't know WHERE they spent the 1.5 mil, but none of it got to my room. They painted the room, but * I * could have done a better job and I HATE painting. It was all over the ceiling and missing in some places.

We had NO towel bars in the bathroom, but you could see the holes in the wall where they used to be.

My pillows and linens smelled of stale smoke. Apparently none of the 1.5 mil was to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to get new pillows.

On the flip side, thanks to my bitching Cam and I got a HUGE suite with a balcony , which was nice, but when did we have time to enjoy all that room. The LAST thing I want to do at night after spending all day outside is sit on the balcony. I'm just sayin.......

OH! And they are charging a $100 NON REFUNDABLE pet fee PER DOG. Yep, that's going to draw the Horseshow people in. Really.

My vote is back to the LaQuinta.

The BIG 4-0

Yes, ladies and gents, I turned the big FORTY this weekend - ugh..

In my honor, my DH and my friends threw me a John Hughes/80's themed party. It was supposed to be more JH specific, but it was REALLY hard to find costumes that would reflect the genius in his movies.

John was able to score a Red Wings jersey( Cameron from Ferris Bueller) and he's here with DH, pre party:














We had a couple of people show up as Bender( Judd's character from Breakfast Club) but everyone else just got into the 80's spirit.

Here is a picture of Catherine, Wendy and I - again pre party( There are some party pics floating around on FB, I'll let you hunt for those ;) ) :














( you can't see but I am wearing cool pink Converse sneakers!) My hair just didn't want to behave, but I didn't have long hair in the 80's so I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Our friend Sarah came in a great prom dress she grabbed from a thrift store - it was awesome! I don't have a pic of that though, again see FB.....

We had a great time, some of us drank a bit more than others, and there are some VERY fuzzy moments, but I remember a lot of dancing, laughing and just general fun... oh and Bilijana is never allowed to sing again at a party - that was determined on the spot!

But the dance floor is gone, the only memory that remains is the lone disco ball hanging from the ceiling in the basement, waiting for the next big party. I love having a disco ball in my basement, it's AWESOME!

And A BIG HUGE THANK YOU to my DH - Cat and John( LOVE YOU GUYS!) and all my friends who made it a GREAT birthday.

And a big RASPBERRY to those of you who missed it( but not Susan, since she had to work and couldn't help it. She gets a pass)

What MORE Can I Ask For?

Two weeks post surgery and BOOM - I am feeling like crap all week! What's up? I was supposed to be feeling better? I have nausea, I am achy and just generally feel like crap.

I finally called my dr today and WHAM - drug withdrawal. REALLY? SERIOUSLY? WHY did no one tell me about this post op? Shouldn't this have been included in the little packet I got on what *might* happen after surgery?

UGH! Double UGH! I *WANT* my life back. I am getting tired of this. I want to plant flowers, go to dog shows - hell - I would even like to mow the LAWN!

Grrrr....

Ok, enough whining, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Day 5 Post Surgery

And unfortunatly Day 5 has felt like the past 4 days. But now the increased boredom is setting in.

Cat came over today and watched a movie with me which helped a bit, but then in a fit of crying got Doug to come upstairs and do the crossword puzzle with me.

I can't help it, I am irrational right now. And who WOULDN'T be? Not only am I laid up from surgery which sucks in itself, but I got my "friend" on Monday. Gee thanks God. Just what I needed.... Anything else you want to throw at me? A stomach virus maybe? That would be the great triumvirate. Poo.(literally).

Today I actually did feel like sitting at the computer a bit, and I am really only blogging bc I am afraid to get up out of the chair. I know it's going to hurt and well, I am just procrastinating really.

My friends and family have been great though( thanks for the yummy food Angela!) with flowers, food and company - I really couldn't have asked for more.

But I probably will - and soon.

The need for food is forcing me out of this chair and to venture into the kitchen and see where my DINNER is! :)

Love to all

Prep for Surgery

Had the pre op today. Not my idea of the fun. I am thinking the surgery might be less painful. The poor woman couldn't find a vein and it took 3 tries to get 2 vials of blood. Fun for her - not so much for me. To her credit she was very nice and kept apologizing.

So that's all over with. If it turns out I don't have any jungle diseases then I will be cleared to go on Friday. Good thing - it's a short surgery. Bad thing- it's not till 2:30 or 3 - which means no food for me. But I will probably be too nervous to eat anyway. I did beg my dr to let me have something to drink - he said as long as I have it before 7am. So I'll get up early, chug some water and go back to sleep :). Speaking of water, I have been told to drink GALLONS of it to help with my vein issue( apparently it's MY issue, not the nurse's issue).

I should be up and around in no time. I can drive as soon as I feel like it, but I will probably stay down for at least the first week.

I have plenty to stay busy - Kindle books, laptop and of course tv ;).... I am all set!

Surgery - 4/23

Well a lot has happened since my last post, one if which is that my disc has decided to bulge out( well actually UP not OUT - leave it to me to be abnormal) and so I am going to have to have surgery on the 23rd. I feel bad that I haven't blogged in ages, but truth be told, I just haven't felt up to it. These days it is taking all my energy to get around and act somewhat normal.

I have access to pain meds, but I am taking them sparingly. I don't want to have another hurdle to overcome once the surgery is over.

I am getting around a little better than I was a week or so ago. I don't know if I have just become used to the pain, or if it has gotten a little more tolerable. Either way, I am still not pushing myself. Although, I have been going to agility - more for Reilly than me. He needs to get out of the house every once in awhile. And we have been walking the courses. We have a show this weekend, it's only 3 classes with hours between them and I may still go and just walk around the course with him instead of run. It's not really about qualifiying, but he needs the ring time.

We just got back from a fab trip to Lexington and the Bourbon Trail. I will blog about that, with pics, in a different post!

Where Does the Time Go?

Seriously??? Its been an age since I have blogged but I feel like I never have time to sit down and do it -well that and there are just times that I am NOT inspired.

Life's been running pretty much along normal lines right now - work, work out, dinners with friends and sleep. That's it.

We did have our first agility trial of the year a couple of weekends ago and it was nice to get back in the swing of things with the guys from Southeastern Agility club. They are all so nice and friendly, it's great to use their show as a springboard for the rest of the year. Kudos to them!

It was a good show as usual - and I have to say that Reilly has improved SO MUCH over last year. I know it doesn't look like it to the naked eye, but with a dog like Reilly it's all about baby steps. We are ECSTATIC that we can actually complete an entire course now. We might still get the big E, but we can start and finish and get around without me standing in the middle of the ring yelling for him.

All my other agility peeps have gotten qualifying scores and we haven't yet, which is a bit of a bummer, but I know that one day, if we keep working at it, those purple ribbons are going to pile up like you wouldn't believe. It's just taking Reilly a bit to understand it's a TEAM thing, not the Reilly show. He's remembering to look for me and not just run around willy nilly.

So we have another show this weekend - another nice and easy ASCA show. They are usually small shows which is nice, as they run fast and there's not a lot of hanging around waiting, like we have at the USDAA shows.

Ah and we DID buy some bedroom furniture for the other spare room this weekend. So that makes 2 full spare rooms, which is nice to have.

I can't wait for Spring. My fingers are itching to plant and dig at the new house.


Check out the video - this is a run at Reilly's last show. This is Jumpers. You can see we get stuck in the corner bc I keep pulling him off the jump to move to the left. Totally my fault.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AcsXDZwzaMWFq

He's home and he's sick( or driving adventures in the snow)

DH got home on Thursday right before the snow started - thank goodness. Here are some snow pics in case you aren't on FB.

My snowy nosed dog.....

Our backyard was a winter wonderland. Too bad we really didn't feel like going out and playing in it.

So we've had a quiet weekend at home, both due to the snow and DH's illness - whatever it is that's plaguing him is a doozy - I don't know if it's super jet lag or if he's really sick. If he's not recovered by tomorrow, I will get him into the dr.

Meanwhile I did venture out briefly with Cat yesterday to go and see Mamma Mia( the musical) at the Fox Theatre. Thankfully we had tickets to the matinee, bc if we had to go out last night and see it, I think we would have passed. The main roads were fine - and we had no incidents till we got into a parking lot. We decided to use one down the street from the theater - it was easy to get into and it was only $10. So we pull in, only to find out that there's no more room at the inn. Fine. Whatever. I was tempted to curse the poor man into the ground, but since I am a Southern lady, I held my tongue.

In order to get out of the parking lot, we had to drive down a hill, and then back up the same hill on the other side. And since the owners of the lot didn't have the foresight to SAND or SALT the lot, this was trickier than it looked. We managed to get down the hill and turn to go back up without taking any lives or parked cars with us. BUT then halfway UP the hill, some MORON was trying to go DOWN the hill on the same side as us, effectively breaking the law of the parking lot.

We were at a standstill, on an incline in total slush. Icy slush at that. After the stare down(which I won by the way) he backed up and proceeded to descend the hill in the correct direction. But it was too late. At that point I was stuck. Not just stuck, but sliding.

Now I am not dumb and I was doing my best, but my car would NOT go forward, but just kept sliding down and sideways ( moving closer to aforementioned parked cars) everytime I tried to go forward. I had to lean out and tell the people walking behind me to please move so they didn't get squashed. And in turn, I had to ask them to tell the woman in the VW bug to PLEASE GET OFF MY A$$ so that I didn't squash her - well like a bug.....

But this NICE NICE NICE NICE NICE (forever my hero) man who MUST be a transplant from the north, helped me get my car unstuck( strike one for front wheel drive) and moving again. He literally risked life and limb - had I started to slide again, he would have been squished into another car. He pushed my driver's side door while telling me the best way to get my traction back. ( and as a side note it was nice to hear that the reason I was stuck was bc there wasn't enough WEIGHT in the front - flattery will get you everywhere!)

As we got moving again, Cat and I both rolled down our windows and screamed THANK YOU! I hope he heard us.

The musical was very entertaining and the ride home much less hair raising than the ride in.

Now, Reilly and I are going to go spend the rest of our Valentine's Day watching the Winter Olympics.....

Three Days and Counting

till DH comes home and I tell you Reilly and I cannot wait! It's hard enough to communicate when he is in Europe, but throw in a 10.5 hour time difference and there is only a small window of time when we are all awake.

Fortunately Reilly has been a little more occupied this weekend than last weekend. My friend Adj brought her dog Doc( smooth collie) over to play with him this weekend. I wasn't concerned as Reilly usually doesn't have issues with any other dogs. But he seemed to take issue with Doc and for a few minutes I was worried we'd have to keep them separate for the evening. But after a few minutes of the growlies, Reilly play bowed and invited Doc into his world. The rest is history. They played all day and all night.

Then Sunday we had agility class and that got him thinking and he has been worn out all day. He slept most of Sunday and a lot with me today. I was home today with a sore back - and it's feeling better it- was a much needed rest.

My big plan for the entire time DH was gone - was to paint the hideous blue bedroom. Unfortunately I chose a nice beige color with a fancy name :) and it's going to take 3 coats to cover it so the room is NOT done. Not for lack of effort. Sarah came over and helped trim out the tall part yesterday( it helps to have a tall friend) and then Cat came over today and did some more work. So it's started and it will eventually be finished, just later than I planned. A snow weekend would come in handy to get it done.

Well my dog has deserted me - there must be something more interesting upstairs. And I guess I should go and eat something. All meds and no food is not a good combo.

Boutwell out.

He Went to Paris

DH is travelling again, the first time in about a year. This trip is a 3 week long excursion to Paris, then India. Maybe Frankfort, but we don't know yet.

So he arrived in Paris this morning( midnight our time). I always ask him to text me when he lands so that I know he got there ok. Unfortunately this time I was DEAD to the world and having a great dream and my vibrating BB scared the crap out of me. But I was glad to see that he got there ok and texted him back. Apparently I was sleep texting because I meant to say: Sorry ( the trip was bumpy) and I am glad you got there. Apparently it came out as Sorru - I am glod I R there. :)... So texting at night is not my strong suit.

Meanwhile, back here, Reilly and I are going to try to keep busy while he's gone. I am going to take off this weekend to Charlotte for some girl fun and he's going to go to camp at Auntie S's house.

Then the following weekend we are having some people over, and a new doggie friend for him too. And if I have to, it will be DAYCARE for him :)....... So far he's been mopey though, so I won't subject him to daycare if he's not feeling up to it.

Reilly and I are also going to be doing some creative cooking... so stay tuned!

The Big Brewing Experiment(i.e. it failed)

And probably for a number of reasons, but the beer never did get started fermenting. One reason could be that the weekend that we decided to do it, it was SO COLD outside and in the house, that it just never got to the right temperature.

OR it could be that we totally screwed something up( which is highly likely).

OR it could have just been a bad batch of something. Who knows? So DH dumped the batch yesterday( yes my entire house smelled like beer for hours) and so we will start over again. In fact, he should be at the beer place right now, replenishing the supplies. Must be nice to have a day off :). But we won't get to restart the brewing till he returns from his 3 week jaunt to Paris and India. But that's fine with me. It's an exhausting process and I need to work myself up to it.

Other than that, we don't have too much going on right now. The dog is going nuts being cooped up in the house so much with all the bad weather. He was playing with DH last night and now DH looks like scarface. Reilly got him good with a nice right paw to the face.

Back to work now... some of us have to work on this NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Whatever.

It Seems Like an Age

Since I have blogged and it has been. I miss it and I am determined to get back to it on a regularly scheduled basis - maybe this week.

Life keeps hitting us with the unexpected here in the new house. This week it was a busted water heater. That's fine we dealt except that it took an extra day to get it installed since we had SNOW and ICE and the guys couldn't get here till Sat. So it broke on Tues -we had hot water on Sat. I finally got tired of waiting and did all the clothing laundry in cold water. And I got really tired of showering at the gym. But I have to say I am thankful that we had water at all. Had we had no water, it would have been a hotel for the 3 of us. There are 2 things I don't deal with well - no water and no AC. ( well and roaches, but that was when we lived in FL.)

I did feel a bit like pioneer woman, or like I was camping, I would heat water to wash the dishes - so it was a bit of an adventure. But I was drawing the line at heating water and scrubbing the clothes!

Today( first whole day of hot water) we brewed beer.... We did an IPA and in 4 weeks, we will see whether or not we spent 8 hours and endless $$ to poison our friends.

Taking DH out to dinner, since I missed my awesome dinner the other night and I am SICK of cooking.

TTFN!