Gingerbread houses

We had so much fun with the gingerbread houses that our "Meme" sent us!!!! We all got into pairs, and each worked on a house together! Man, that was some icky, and sticky and very stiff frosting glue!!! Boy did we have fun though! The kids got really creative with their designs and ideas! Mommy got hand cramps from squeezing out that darn goopy mess as commanded by the little troops! We got our cans to stabilize the sides, just like the directions said to do!! Then when the houses were all stable and dry, we put the roofs on.......then the best part......the DECORATING!!!!!!! Jenna and Julianna did the small house (for eating!) and Johnny and Jazzy did the big house for decoration! They all did such a great job working as teams and talking it out with each other and deciding how they wanted everything to go! LOL! There was of course, sampling involved, but they still managed to get MOST of the candy all ON the houses! They looked great!

Hooray for Chester!!!!!

We're so happy to announce the adoption of Chester the Chihuahua!! This totally sweet and adorable, 10 yr old little man finally found a home of his own!!! With two little girls to give him all the snuggles he's used to! We're so happy for this special little guy!!!




Chester went from being a terrified, shy puppy mill rescue, to a much happier, content, and often silly and goofy little man! We are so happy that someone was able to see the love this little man has to give, and to give him the chance to have a family of his very own for Christmas!!! What a wonderful gift!!!!! We wish them many happy years together!!!!!

Putting up the Tree!

Ok! So the day after Thanksgiving, we always put up our gool ol' artificial Christmas tree!!!! Can't have the real thing, or we'd all be sneezing and not breathing, which really puts a damper on the holiday's, don't you think? Us too! SO fake tree it is.....added bonus........none of the dogs want to "mark" it since it's a fake! LOL!!! Always a good thing!!! We did good this year too! None of the cats tried to sleep in it, or eat off any of the branches!! YAY!!!!! And we only had a few ornaments fall to their deaths and get chewed up, so we call it a very succesful tree this year!!!!!

The best part, is the kids are old enough to really enjoy it and take part in it too!!!! So John and I put it together, and I put the lites on with Johnny's help. Then the girls helped "fluff" all the branches out til we liked how it looked, and then all the kids put on ALL the ornaments on all by themselves this year!!!! I think they did an awesome job and it looked just great!!!!! Then we tried for our traditional "kids under the tree" picture..........well, that not so good.........LOL!!!!!!! Cute and lots of giggles trying, but oh well!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

Sick n tired of being sick n tired!

Well, I've totally been slacking off, and not getting on! From getting our flu shots to getting a mild case of flu, then into a cold and now double ear infection with sinus and upper respiratory infection, have not really enjoyed December much! Now that the kids are mostly all on the mend from their colds, and I visited the Dr.'s today for some help kicking all this mess, it should be getting better! I'll try to get on and update with Christmas and all the goings-on around here lately!!

I'm a DIRECTOR!!!!!

I'm so excited!! I've been playing around with Powerpoint, and made a couple movies with it, then figured out how to convert them, and uploaded them to youtube!!!!! LOL! Wooooo hoooooooo! I'm a movie maker!!!! I am totally getting addicted to making them! They're so much fun! Feel free to check them out! I'm sticking in the links to them. One is all about my cocker spaniel Bridgett, an the other is adoptable dogs from my rescue I work with! I'm also working on some of the kids!! Too fun!!!!!!

Adoptable Dogs on YouTube!

Bridgett's Movie on YouTube!

I'm loving the artistic and fun way of working with all the pictures I take! LOL! Hope you all like them too! Bridgett's was the 1st one I've ever done. I love it! Let me know what you think too!!!

Latest Fosters

Ok, so this isn't really one of our new fosters, it's Missy, our new beagle girl !LOL! But she looked so cute all snuggled with Julianna in this picture, I just had to share!!!! They were both laying in my fleece fabric scraps tote! LOL! It's Missy's most favorite "dog bed" in the house! Good thing they are the scraps! LOL!

Ok, so the two new fosters are "Pearl" and "Wally". Both are Shih Tzu's rescued from a puppy mill. Pearl was just rescued a week or so ago, and is a cute little female, white with grey and black. She is shaved down right now, but will look cuter when he hair starts to grow back in. She is really neat, because she has ONE blue eye!!! Looks too cool!!! LOL! I call her a "sausage with legs" because she's built like one! LOL! Jasmine is especially in love with her already! As I'm sure you can see! LOL!

Jenna has her "Tilly" of course, another puppy mill rescue, a sweet little Chihuahua who has really come a long way the months we have been fostering her!!!! Even her pal "Chester" is making some great strides lately! The "lovebugs" picture is Jazzy with Pearl, Jenna with Tilly and of course, Julianna with her stuffed Lumpy! LOL!

"Wally" is our other new foster. He has been in another foster home for over a year now, but still just seems not to be making much progress. We are all hoping that a change of scenery will challenge him to start making more positive strides in his rehabilitation. He wont' let anyone touch him still, even after all this time. He's so cute too, he's a black and white Shih Tzu, with a cute floopy tail, and all you want to do is just snuggle him, but he's still so very scarred from his puppy mill experience, that it may never be possible. We are hoping we can help him. We don't have any good pictures of him as yet, but are hoping to get some soon. He goes in nervous circles, and paces from living in a small cage for his early life. it's just really heartbreaking to see how damaged he is, even after a year of rehabilitation.

Uh Oh! The Beagle Adventure...

Oh how I should know better than to surf the free ads........actually this started with a simple email from the freecycle group I belong to! This lady was trying to re-home her two beagles, as she was getting married, and the new man was not a dog lover. This is the little female, Missy. She is 4 years old......spent her 1st life as a breeder (some back yard breeder) and then was given to this lady, who then had her for 3 years. Well, this little lady

had never been to the vet...was in heat....never had any shots.......long maddening story. Well, anyway, long story short, Missy was relinquished to me at my house about 3 weeks ago. She was SO sad, and confused. Spent the 1st several days, watching out the windows and doors just waiting for her lady to return. It was sickening how sad this poor little girl was. She's housetrained, quiet, sweet and lovable and cuddly.......how anyone could just throw her away like garbage, is beyond me. Well, slowly Missy started to adjust to her new situation. The kids just adore her, of course! LOL! She is a great little dog too! So we decided that she will not be adoptable, and we are keeping her. So we now officially have FOUR dogs!!!! Yipe! LOL! Who woulda thought? Missy is now doing really awesome, and is totally made herself at home. She sleeps with us or the kids every nite, loves to hop in your lap on the sofa to watch tv, and is generally learning how to be spoiled! ha ha!

Recent Happy Endings

Well, I've been quite a slacker! I've had quite a few foster dogs whiz thru here lately, and didn't get a chance to post much!! So thought I'd just bring us up to date!

LOL! Bella and Rosie, were both adopted I'm happy to say! Here is Bella with her new family!! Rosie was also adopted to a wonderful family, although Rosie is having some problems with infected paws from her years on the wire in the puppy mill, so please keep her and her new family in your prayers!!! I'm sure they would appreciate it! Any donations for her vet bills from the surgeries could be made to Hubbard's Hounds on their website, and note in the comments "For Rosie's Paw care".

Kayla and Andi, both were adopted together to a wonderful family, with a little girl who just ADORES them both!!!! Kayla and Andi were mixed Chi/Pug puppies, from different litters. They got along together really well, and were real cutie-pies! I'm so glad they got such a great home! You can really see how much they are loved in this picture too! LOL!




Then we got two beautiful cocker spaniels from a KY shelter, Goldie and Buddy. Goldie was a female buff and white cocker girl, and was adopted by Rich and Sara and their boy cocker "Joe"! LOL! They love her to pieces and she and Joe have a nice friendship going. We know she'll have a great home!!!!!



Buddy, is a beautiful Chocolate Brown Cocker boy, who was picked up as a stray, and acted like he'd probably been left outside before being dumped. He was so happy to be in a home with people who loved and cared for him!!! He took to home livin very well, and was adopted by Carole, a wonderful woman, who just loves him soooooooo much!!! He has a friend to play with and has become one happy, healthy and well cared for young boy!!!!! Pretty good considering they were scheduled to be euthanized just days before we got them!!!!! Now both have wonderful new lives!
Then there was Aurora! An adorable little german sheppard puppy! She was quickly snapped up by a great family who had been on our waiting list for a sheppard puppy and was so happy to find her!! She has a big brother to play with and show her the ropes!! And she may even grow into those ears! ha ha!

We also had a small female beagle surrendered to us at our house, but that's another story in itself so I will do a separate blog on that one! LOL! I think that just about covers most of them! We now are fostering Pearl and Wally, two puppy mill rescue Shih Tzu's who have a long way to go before they will be ready for homes of their own. Pearl is coming along well though, and is making positive steps every day! Soon she will be ready to go to her new loving home! So long for now!!

Thanksgiving Thankful Thoughts!

Well, here we are, another Thanksgiving has come, and we have so much to be grateful for!!

• John has a JOB finally! YAY!!!!!! It's been a long hard road, being laid off the last 8 months, but now we have some hope and positive thoughts for life to get better for 2009!
• All the kiddo's with special needs are getting the medical diagnosis and special help they need to stay healthy and happy and continue to thrive!
• All the kids are healthy and happy and growing like little weeds!
• We are happy to be a part of Hubbard's Hounds dog rescue, and proud to have now opened our hearts and home to more than two dozen rescued dogs and helped them on to their forever families since April of this year!
• We added our 4 dogs to our family this year: Buster, Bridgett, Marnie and Missy! We also lost our dear friend Rocky in March, but know he is in heaven getting lots of love and waiting for us to join him someday!
• Our cars are both actually running at the moment, (knocking on wood!) Making our lives much easier! LOL!
  
• Our pellet stove is making a HUGE difference for us this year, and we're so glad we made that decision last winter!!!!! Lovin being WARM!!!
  
• We had an awesome garden this year, and it really helped us thru some tough times. We feel so lucky to have been guided and counseled to do so many important things that really helped us through this rough last few years. Between canning, sewing, knitting etc. we were able to make and grow enough to keep us all fed and clothed and keep house!
• Especially grateful to my great-grandma "Nanny" RIP and gramma Mom, for teaching me all these wonderful skills that have enriched our lives so much!!
• Loving family, friends and church to stand by us and keep us on the right track thru times of crisis!

Just wanted to say THANKS to all our wonderful family and friends, who make life worth living and we are blessed to have you as part of our lives!!!!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday season!!!!!

Happy Checkup, flu shots.......

Well happy day! Julianna had her nervously anticipated 3 year checkup today......and it went GREAT!!!!!!! What a huge relief! Her weight is 25lbs on the nose, which FINALLY put her on the darn growth curve!!!! She's now in the 3rd percentile for weight and 10% for height (that's been constant) so as far as her weight goes, NO MORE TESTING and procedures for her!! YAY!!!!!!! Thank GOD!!!!!!

Then she had her vision screening, which went great! They had this neat little machine that they aimed at her eye and it did all sorts of readouts.......never seen one before, so that was cool, and good for her too, cause all she had to do was sit still!!!

Hearing screening didn't go quite as well, her left ear tested OK, but her right did not, so they did a second type and it also did not test out normal, so she may be hearing impaired in that right ear, so I'm wondering if that impacts her speaking impairment!!!! SO looking forward to finding out more about that one!

Then we got the utter joy of getting our flu shots together, her and I! LOL!!!! She did GREAT! Just a little cry, then she was very brave and didn't have any screaming or anything! SO proud of my little peanut! She got a pretty winnie the pooh sparkly sticker, so she was pleased! LOL! Now just gotta get the other 3 kids and JOHN done! LOL!!! No way I wanna go thru another bout of the flu! EWWWWWW

And today we got our first real SNOW!!!!! The kids of course are THRILLED to death! LOL!! I would be more thrilled if any of us had actual boots!!!!! Luckily though, I just finished making all the kids hats and mittens and slippers this past weekend, so we were ready! LOL! I even actually knew where my warm soft scarf my sister made me was!!!! Put away! Shocking! ha ha ha!

Well, off to go bask in the toasty warmth of our corn stove......ahhhhh..........

Julianna's 3rd Birthday!!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY JULIANNA!!!!!!!

Our little punkin celebrated her third birthday yesterday, November 11th!! Veteran's Day!!
The older kids and I made her a delicious homemade cake with tasty chocolate frosting made from scratch just for her! It turned out very well, and was enjoyed very much!!

Then we got the the important parts, of singing and wishing and blowing out the candle!! We use a special candle, handed down from her uncles when they were little. It goes from the 1st birthday to the 4th birthday, so she'll be our LAST one using it, and only one more year!!! Sniffle!!!!!! We still can't believe our little baby is no longer a baby at all, but a big 3 year old girl!! Pre-schooler officially!!!

Her brother and sisters were very excited to help hand over the presents and oooh and aaah over them with her!! She really loved her new little lumpy stuffed toy, as well as the two dozen pack of party bubbles!!!!! She also got a big 2 foot tall fairy princess teddy bear all dressed up, and a bunch of new beanie babies!!!

Halloween Fun

Well, another fun night of trick or treating has come and gone. The kids had a great time! They went to their school's halloween party, and got to play games, trick or treat up and down the halls, show off their costumes to friends and teachers and generally have a fun time!

The kids carved more traditional pumpkins this year, versus the mommy-spends-forever doing the intricate little saws etc with the pumpkin carving kit! Johnny even carved most of his all on his own! The kids all chose their faces and how they wanted them, then we also painted and colored on them with marker and of course named them.

Then Halloween night, we went out trick or treating, followed up by heading to the firehouse for the haunted house! Johnny felt really brave this year, and went with Mom and Dad thru the haunted house for the 1st time! We had a lot of fun!

Goodies were checked for safety then devoured with glee by all!

New Additions, and Old Friends

Well, happy to report, Mandy the beagle is adopted and off to her new home!! We now have new foster dogs! We have two beautiful purebred cocker spaniels rescued just last weekend from a puppy mill. They are both females, about 6 years old. Both are beautiful golden buff coloring. One has a longer american nose, and one the shorter english nose. They got their new names to go with their new life of freedom!!!! Bella and Rosie!!!!


Bella is definitely the better adjusted! She came out and is ready to live her new life to the fullest!!! She is lovable, cuddly, nosey and playful! She is also already getting fully housetrained!!!! Amazing accomplishment!! She is still a little timid, but just meeting her, you'd never suspect her abusive start in life! She's ready for her forever family!!! And whoever gets her will be one lucky family! She loves the kids, is fine with other dogs, and plays with Buster and Andi, loves to run outside with them. Most of all, she just loves to be petted!!! She's soooo sweet!!!! I could just keep her myself! LOL!!!! The 1st top pic is of Rosie, and the one on the left is Bella.....Think Bella in blue! She wears the blue harness!

Rosie needs more time. She is still just terrified and not sure what to make of her new life of freedom. She will not be adoptable until she has had time to rehabilitate and adjust to living in a home with a loving family. She is not aggressive in any way to people, and loves petting and having us talk softly to her. But she growls at other dogs who get too close, and will snap at them. She still shakes when anyone comes near her. She just lays like a lump in the spot you put her in. You have to carry her in/out and take her out of her crate. It's just sad and disgusting the trauma this poor girl must have been thru already in her short life. But she's in a better place now, and will have all the love and time and patience she needs!!! Better days are surely ahead for miss Rosie!!!!!

We also are now fostering a returning friend, Andi!! Through no fault of her own, 5 month old Andi, was returned when her new family decided they just didn't have the time to care for her. So we are sad she has to go thru this, we're happy to see her and always glad to open our hearts to this sweetie!! She is loving playing with Buster to her little heart's content! She's playful, housetrained, and just as cute as can be!! She's a great little girl and available to be adopted now! She is a chihuahua/pug mix and is about 15 lbs. She loves kids, and other dogs and of course, snuggles!!!!!

As always, if you have room in your heart, go to www.hubbardshounds.com and fill out an adoption application today!!!!!

Julia

Beautiful Fall in Upstate NY

Just a few of the reasons I love where I live!!!!
It's funny, but as a kid, I just never realized that EVERYWHERE didn't have fall, with the amazing colors and hues of the changing leaves each year. When I first found that out, I was shocked and amazed! How can that be??

Amazing though it was to me at that time, I still find myself in awe of the season of autumn in the northeast. This year was especially vibrant and colorful, with bright reds, glowing oranges, and beautiful yellows in every shade wherever you look.

We live nestled in the beautiful Finger lakes of Upstate NY. I love it here! From the senic trails, to the abundance of lakes and parks..it's truly a beautiful area to live in, or even to drive through! We have a "Wine trail" area that runs the length of the lake from town to town here, and many many tourists come thru each year, and I'm sure it's not JUST the wineries! I'm sure part of it, is the beautiful scenery! I can't imagine living somewhere where the leaves just turn brown and drop!!! You'd miss the best part of fall!!!

Let's see! Leaf-stuffed scarecrows! Pumpkin face leaf bags! Giant piles of colorful leaves to jump in with your friends! leaf pile forts!! And of course, the ever popular leaf prints, pressed leaves, and leaf collages!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!
From our home to yours...

May this be the spoooooookiest
The most fun, the best........
May this Halloween
just outshine all the rest!
From Ghosties and Goblins
and good treats galore!
Costumes and Pumkins,
And oh so much more!!
We hope you go safely
out into the night
and have lots of fun
but not lots of fright!!

Love
The Hillman Family

Return to health and other happy happenings!

Well, finally, it seems (Knocking on wood of course!) that the kids are back on the road to health! Hooray! Happy me! And more good news is just around the corner!

Saturday, I'm off to Hubbard's Hounds to take Mandy the lovebug beagle, and Kayla the adorable pupper to meet prospective adopters!!!! Yay!!! Hopefully, they will be going on to their new forever homes! This leaves me with room! So we are hoping to add a new foster dog to our crew! We may be getting a newly rescued Cocker Spaniel. So far I don't know anything about him/her, so I'll have to make sure to post Saturday night or Sunday with all the juicy details! But the good luck we've had with our two, plus our last foster Rocko, we have totally fallen in love with the Cocker Spaniel breed!

For anyone looking to adopt a furry pal, get your applications in now!! We have a new transport coming in on November 2nd!!!!! Watch the web for details! www.hubbardshounds.com

One note of some very sad news. Sylvia the chihuahua, lost several of her sweet babies this week. They were only a month or so old, and just so tiny, that they got dehydrated and couldn't recover. Please pray for Kim H. and all the people affected by this tragic loss of these tiny little angels.

Buster got a nice bath tonite, and much needed I may add! He was one stiiiiinky little puppy!!!! Now he's all white again and fluffy! ha ha ha! You'd be suprised how dirty he can get roughhousing and rolling around in the leaves and dirt!! Man! Now all we need is to get one of those "Peticure" doggy nail thingys!!! I HATE trying to trim nails! UGH! He has to be muzzled sometimes, and is just not fun at all. Ironically, I can play with his front feet, and he's fine, just don't take him to get them done or try to do it. Brat!!!!!

Julianna is doing so well at her little toddler play group! it's just the greatest thing to see her jump up and down yelling "Me go Skooool!" sigh! She's really growing up on us fast now! I see improvements in her speech and interactions almost daily now, and although it's great, it's now interesting dealing with her saying sentences like "NOWWWWWWWWWW Daddy!" ha ha ha! Got quite the little attitude for such a teeny little kid! I just hope and pray her weight is up enough at her 3 yr checkup that they won't want to start all the poking, prodding and testing that made her stop talking all over again!!

Johnny's doing much better, now that we know it's Asperger's syndrome and it explains a lot to us about his behavior. It's nice to know how to handle things now and different ways to approach things, and helps us and him to not become as frustrated, which is leading to a much MUCH happier, and better behaved little man!!!!! And helpful, and really affectionate too!!!! I'm loving it!! It's like having my boy back after the last 2 years of struggling with the schools and the effect it had on him. I LOVE his teacher! We really got lucky with Mrs. Higby! She's a keeper! LOL!

Guess that's about it for this week, thus far! Stay happy, stay healthy and stay safe! Remember to check and test your smoke detectors!! It's fire prevention time!!!!!

Viruses SUCK!!!!!!!!

Ok, so yes, Fall IS my favorite season....but I forgot one teeny detail. It's also the beginning of GERM SEASON!!!!! I hate germs....I hate viruses......I hate colds... I hate the flu......and mostly I hate the PUKING viruses!!!!!! Especially when the kids bring them home, pass them around... like NOW for instance!!!!!

Even if I'm not actually contracting the virus itself, I still feel nauseous and ill, for no other reason than watching them go thru it and cleaning up after it! I must say, I'm so proud of Jenna!!! She's 7 now, and for the 1st time, she is old enough to hit a bucket, carry it to the bathroom and not get sick all over the house all the way there. Major accomplishment. I'm serious! Two down, two to go.

I'm going to go sit and feel ill, and sip my ginger ale now........pity me....pity my poor sicky kiddies.......ok, so mostly pity me!!!!!!

And he's off!!!!!!!!

To his new home that is!!!! Rocko, our foster cocker spaniel boy, is off to his furr-ever home!!!! He will have a big (and boy do I mean BIG) sheppard brother, who is just the sweetest, most mellow guy to play with! Congratulations to Sheri and her family!!! And most of all, congratulations to sweet Rocko! Who deserves a loving family of his own!! I hope to have pics to post soon!!!!

I hate being crabby!!!!!

Well, it's "one of those days"........always wondered what grown-ups meant when I heard that as a kid, but now I soooo know!!! And today is SOOOOOO one of em!

Didn't get enough sleep, didn't get crap accomplished today, havin a disagreement with one of my kids teachers........just feeling bi*chy!!!!!! I think I'm in a "Maxine" sort of mood!

One good thing......kids open house is tonite!! Yay!! I can't wait to see their classrooms and all the cute stuff they do for open house night! Last year was so adorable! My son's teacher, had each kid bring in a shirt, and they made paper plate heads, and they were all stuffed and sitting at the kid's desks!!! It was so cute!! So I'm excited to see what their rooms will be like this year. I generally really like this school, and all the kids teachers.

OH another thing!!!! My horrid, evil, rotten cats!!!!! I go to hang out some laundry, and RIGHT under my clothesline, are not one, but TWO dead squirrels and a mouse!!!!!!! EW EW EW MEGA EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! Talk about GROSS!!!!!!! I mean, yes, I know.......they're providing for us, thanking us for a good home so to speak, but EWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

It was bad enough when I found mice in my garden all summer........then the blue Jay yesterday on the sidewalk....but having to see the entire pile of little critter bodies when I was trying to go hang out laundry, just about pushed me over the edge!!!!! Did I mention how totally gross and disgusting it was???

Little things

You know, sometimes it's just the little things in life that make me happy. Like today for instance.......first, the sun was shining for the first time all week and it wasn't raining. It was one of those beautiful Upstate fall days, with cool brisk temps and beautiful red, orange, yellow and green leaves, a stunning blue sky with white clouds, just my favorite kind of weather! Second, my kids had a perfect day at school today, complete with ice cream at lunch cause it was friday! No time outs, no counting, no nothing!!!!!! Even no homework!!!! And of course, all the cute artwork that comes home on fridays! Third, since we had such a great day, we had a Mommy & kids movie nite, where we all piled into my king bed with snacks and stayed up past bedtime watching movies! Then when Daddy got home, and the kids went to bed, he and I had some quality time watching our shows on tv too! Fourth, the dog rescue work i do brings these little blessings every so often that make it all worth it.

We are fostering 3 puppy mill rescue chihuahua's......affectionately called "Desk Trolls" seeing how they're so scared of people they live in under my computer desk. Well, the one "Tilly" is starting to recognize, that some people are actually nice, and give you food and water, and snuggles! Tonite, for the first time (and I've had her like 2-3 months now) she came out of the sewing room (where the desk is) and CHOOSE to lay on a bed in the living room WITH John and I and some of the other dogs for like over an hour!!!! Ok, you're thinking..whooop, right?? Well, really it's an amazing accomplishment for her!! This dog lived her whole life stuffed in a 2foot wire box with other dogs most likely, with little food (and crap at that) and popping out puppies for money. No love, no vet care, no sanitation......nothing. The only hands she ever knew were for yanking her pups away, stuffing a male in to breed. So this IS A HUGE DEAL for her. And I am the lucky one to get to enjoy it!!!

And it's not just her....today our foster beagle Mandy, actually started using some manners.....sitting for petting, not jumping and pawing at me. Rocko, our foster cocker spaniel, shared a toy for the 1st time, and is playing now with other dogs. Kayla our littlest foster, a chihuahua/pug/? mix puppy is starting to come out of her shell and not be hand shy (from possible abuse before being tossed in a high kill shelter at 12 weeks old!) She's not afraid of being thrown/dropped when we pick her up now either. The other two puppy mill chihuahua's are also starting to come out and roam the house and feel more comfortable now as well. It just is these little signs, that after a really stressful last week/weekend, are like saying "Keep it up....you ARE making a difference!".

I sat outside with the 6 dogs that go out ( the 3 chi's stay in, not ready for that step yet) and as I sat and watched them playing and frisking in the falling leaves, sun shining, breeze blowing my hair......just made me feel so blessed, so lucky to be able to do this......to be able to share this with my kiddo's....to watch THEM blossoming and growing from it as well! Seeing a blind, middle age cocker spaniel, now little tail stub wagging all the time, prance around the yard she has memorized, seeing a former puppy mill rescue cocker spaniel, head held high, running like a pup, enjoying her new life....my crazy Jack russel, with his best buddy and little playmate girly, all 3 racing and chasing until the beagle has to join in! Then out come my precious kids...the dogs running to them, getting ear ruffles, laughter and fun. Watching my son, who just a year ago, wouldn't love another dog, didn't really like them since our beloved Casey died when he was 3......brag how Buster is HIS dog, and watching him throwing the ball for Rocko and Buster. These things......these simple, maybe to some silly things.......these things make me happy.

I have some who say, "How can you be happy?" My husband got laid off 6 months ago, our finances are in ruin, we're barely hanging onto our house and he's only just found substitute work and is trying to start a small business on the side. We have one working car, affectionately called "Rusty crusty". My son is being evaluated for Asperger's syndrome, my youngest daughter has health problems and is 24 lbs at almost 3 years old, and is in therapy for not talking outside the family. We now have nine dogs in our house, plus the 3 cats, and tortoise, and 4 small kids under 8!

Well, I tell you this.....I am happy. I have a family who loves me. I am doing fulfilling work in dog rescue, my husband is a volunteer firefighter. We have skills that have saved us this past few years......his electrical knowledge and my sewing skills and small business sewing. our garden did great this year, I learned to cook, can, freeze, crochet, sew and teach my children from my grandmother and great grandmother growing up. I made cloth diapers and training pants for Juli (more cozy than pull ups anyway!) We have warm clothes (so what if I made them?) we have a warm pellet stove (he installed himself!) the dogs and the kids are healthy and happy! They know they are loved, and are thriving! In the service of others.......you lose your problems and find joy. We may not have money, but truly.....money is NOT everything. We have each other and in the little things......that's where I know we are truly blessed.

Course, I've been told I'm nuts, and it doesn't take much to make me happy! But I'm ok with that!!!