Barbie...

When I was a kid, I never really played with Barbies. In fact, I never owned one. I am not sure why this happened, but my parents had limited funds and maybe that was the reason why. I probably would have played with them, but never had the opportunity. My best friends growing up were twins. They had everything Barbie. They had the Dream House, a pool to go with the house, a camper and tons of Barbie fashions. If it was a Barbie accessory, they probably had it. I was jealous of them for this reason. It was not rational, buy hey I was a kid and kids get jealous.

Saturday, Sophia's Grammy bought her a green Barbie Volkswagen Beetle. First you must know that Sophia is totally in love with cars right now, especially Volkswagens, so it is perfect for her. She had a Barbie that somebody had given her when she was born, so Bob found the Barbie and gave it to her. This Barbie had on a princess dress that I felt would not do for driving a VW Bug, so I went to Target and bought her a set of Barbies clothes.

Last night we finally opened the package of clothing, Sophia was so excited and to be honest so was I. We started dressing Barbie and the stinking clothes don't fit very well and when you read the fine print on the back of the package it states, "Fashions fit most Barbie dolls." Not only did they not fit well, they started to rip. I was more disappointed in this than Sophia. I must say that Barbie has some hips and it is hard to put pants on her.

This morning she saw the Barbie and the VW sitting there and started to play with them both. Barbie, of course, could not wear what she was wearing and had to change her clothes before going on a trip. I helped Sophia change the clothes and then pack the little Barbie suitcase with another outfit for her journey. Sophia loads Barbie into the car and she was off. Her car trip lasted all of about a minute when it was time to change her clothes again. Of course, Sophia, needs my help with this task, because the clothes are so hard to deal with. Anyway, she looked so happy while trying to dress Barbie and it made me realize that she really is growing up so fast. I had to smile as I watched her on the floor sitting on her knees trying like hell to get Barbie into her car.

I thought about my own childhood again. Did I miss much not having Barbies? I will never know. I might have missed some frustration, but maybe I missed a sort of rite of passage for girls. At least now I can sort of live through my own little girl and be excited for her.

Just catching up...

I wanted the previous post about Vinny to be up for at least a week before I put up a new post. A week has come and gone and it does not change how much I miss my dog. We have been working very hard to get information about pet dangers out there. We have put up a website with some pet safety links, talked to our local newspaper and also talked to the Baltimore Sun. A story with just a bit about Vinny ran in our local newspaper ran today, but we are still hoping that the Baltimore Sun will print something. We have had a few visits to our website and hope that more people will visit. Please go over and have a look. Sign our guestbook and forward the link to your friends. The more people who are aware of pet dangers the better.

Mother's Day was very nice. Bob who rarely cooks made a wonderful dinner for his mother and me. It was a great day to just be with my kids. Sophia made me a card in which she wrote the message "I love you" all by herself. Bob told her the letter and she wrote it without his help. It was hard to read, but I could definitely tell what it said. I was so proud of her. Sophia picked out a beautiful hanging Lobelia for me and put a dragonfly decoration in the pot. I love dragonflies.

Yesterday I spent the morning planting my tomatoes and then we went over to Bob's parent's house and helped to open the swimming pool. I thought it would be a good idea to wear my swimsuit to work in the garden and open the pool. I am a nice shade of bright red today. I am such a dummy, I should have worn sunscreen. I normally do, but didn't yesterday.

I had to run some errands today. Sophia seemed to be a bit under the weather and I kept asking her if she was okay. She said she was fine. We pulled up to our house and Sophia was getting out when she started this coughing thing and the next thing I knew she was throwing up on the ground. I knew it. She was, of course, very sad. I comforted her and helped her change her clothes and told her to lay on the couch and just relax. She has drank some water, but wants nothing to eat. I know she will be better later. I told Bob to pick her up a snowball with out the syrup on top thinking that she might like the shaved ice. I am glad that she decided to get sick outside and not in the car or house. She made it easy for me. Poor thing, it is not like her to just lay around.

I still owe you guys Fairie Festival photos. My stinking CD drive will not open and I have them on disk. I promise to get them out soon.

Thanks for hanging in there while I have been dealing with Vinny's death. It is nice to have such kind readers.

I hope the sun is shining in your piece of world.

Vinny...

It is with great sadness that I announce that Vinny passed away today. He fought a good fight, but in the end, his body just could not take any more.

Please take a moment to read this information and make sure to pass it along to any body who has pets.

I am hoping that we can use Vinny's death to teach others about the dangers for pets from ordinary items.

Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts for Vinny and our family.

Vinny Update...

Vinny had a rough day yesterday. I started crying when we went to visit him last night. He had loose bowels and was throwing up yesterday, which is not a good sign, so they gave him medicine to calm his stomach. They have also put a medication in his IV to increase the blood flow to his kidneys.

Late last night we called the ASPCA Animal Poison Control (we had to call there before he went to the vet to get a case number, because he had been poisoned) and they said that the treatment he is receiving is right on and as long as he continues to urinate, there is hope. So we felt a bit better after hearing this.

Bob went down to walk him this morning, while he didn't look great, he seemed a bit better. He had stopped throwing up and they actually had a bit of turkey for him to eat in his cage. He did urinate. They were doing his blood work again today. We will get the results late this afternoon and we will go visit him again tonight.

Raisins...

It seems as if life is one big shitstorm sometimes. I know that I have so much to be thankful for, but is is very hard to remain positive while being tested time and time again. As you know I had been sick, so had the kids, my in-laws and my husband. Sophia and Bob are still coughing, but at least Pink Eye has left the house.

Friday Bob took off work so that we could take the kids to a Fairie Festival. We all had a great time. Saturday, my mother-in-law and I took Sophia to her first tea. I promise to post pictures of both events in due time. The kids look so adorable in the photos.

Sunday morning we woke up to the dog throwing up all over the place. Apparently, he had gotten into a bag of gourmet raisins that had been left unattended. I told my neighbor that the dog had been sick and what he was throwing up when she mentioned to me that she had read that raisins could be toxic for dogs. I immediately got on-line and found some information and it was not good. Apparently, even a small serving of raisins can be very bad for a dog. So we called the local emergency vets and were told to call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control number. We were given a case number and told to see a vet right away.

Dogs that ingest raisins can experience kidney failure. As of last night his levels are still increasing which means that his kidneys could be going further into failure. The vet was very concerned. She said that the increased levels could be a difference in the amount of fluid that he was taking in or a difference in the machine that took the earlier numbers. Whatever the case may be, we can only wait and hope that things will turn around. We did go to visit him last night and he was being his usual obstinate self and not cooperating with the staff, so we had to walk him. Bob was going to try to walk him on his way to work this morning.

The sad thing is that Vinny is a young dog. He is only two. The vet said that if his levels continued to rise today that we would need to make some decisions and I know what this means and I hate it. My dog is my family and as I write this the tears are welling up in my eyes. I have prayed and hoped, but I am worried that it might not be enough.

Please keep Vinny in your thoughts and prayers. He could use all of the help that he can get!

Also, please pass this info about raisins on to anybody you know who has a dog. Please let them learn from our mistake.