Charlie On Thursday

Well, Charlie has been home for just about a week now, and he is a great dog! He is jumpy around loud sounds, and barked a few times in the middle of the night our first and second nights, but he has gotten so much better, and last night we slept quite peacefully!

He is a great walker.. staying mostly right next to me, and only running ahead to chase leaves! He is very playful, and other than playing with leaves he likes to try to get my clothes while I'm getting dressed, he tries to catch anything that moves...luckily he and Sheila are on a different schedule!

Here are some of the pictures from our first week together:

Rhinebeck!

Last weekend I went with some people from my knitting group to the New York Sheep and Wool festival, in Rhinebeck, New York.

It was only about a 2 hour drive from here, and it was soo much fun! There were tons of yarn vendors, as well as people selling Sheep and Goat Cheeses, there was an entire building filled with food and wines for sampling, a barn where they were auctioning off sheep. There were people selling all kinds of knitting and crocheting accessories, fiber, yarn, drop spindles, spinning wheels, hand knit items, patterns, etc. There were even rides for the kids in attendance... or the big kids who like to go on rides... like me (I went down the jumbo slide with H, my boss and knitting buddy.


What did I buy you ask? Well I bought a cute project bag, that I was so drawn to
the fabric it was made out of, I couldn't walk away, then I bought some doggy sweater patterns, and that was that. I had someone show me how to properly use my drop spindle so I can actually start to work with it on the weekends, instead of letting it collect dust...and I sampled all the foods and beverages I could handle.

We also joined the lunchtime Ravelry meet up, and I took a photo with Bob the mascot, then our knitting group was in the Group shot... I got a "Hi my name is" button, and then our group did a picture with all of us that were in attendance. Originally we were planning on attending the Ravelry after party gathering, but after a long day in the cold shopping and oohing and aahing, we decided to just trek to a blue post office box (which was more difficult to find than you might expect), and then back home to CT.

All in all it was a good day!

Charlie is Coming Home!

To my home that is! Which will be his home as soon as he enters it Friday night! I am so stoked to have him!

I got the call today from the Adoption Specialist while I was on my lunch. She wanted to let me know that my application was approved and that I can come and get him Friday evening :) I am so happy, and I feel like Charlie will be very happy here too.


Monday evening I had spent another hour with him after Sheila's appointment (the Vet declared her healthy again!) and he was so cute and hyper when I first arrived, but then he just settled back onto my lap again, and snuggled for the rest of the visit. I felt bad waking him up when it was time to go, but I suppose the people who work there would want to make it home at some point and I couldn't just stay there forever.

Charlie did smell Sheila's carry bag, but I put her up high because she was already stressed out enough being in the Vet's office, I figured I'd let her try to relax a little. They can get a better sense of who each other is when they are both home.

So I have some supplies already... I was given a crate from a family that I babysit for, and I have a leash, treats, and some toys for him. Tomorrow I think I will go out and get him a food and water bowl, and some food to go with it (I suppose he will want to eat). Then I should be all set to welcome Charlie home!

Super excited! Can't wait until Friday night!!

Nice to Meet You Charlie

On Friday I met Charlie. Of course I got to the vet's office long before they were open, or I was supposed to be there for that matter, so I was knitting in my car for a while (Yes that is on DW's Sweater). Then someone came and knocked on my door with Mr. Charles with her and I got to go inside with them and chat and sit and pet and play.

The adoption specialist was great, she again answered the next questions that I had thought of, and she informed me that she had talked to the vet who performed Charlie's surgery, and they said that they will cover any further procedures affecting his hip area, although the problem should be solved. This was awesome to hear, because now although it shouldn't happen, it is covered if it does. His surgery was 4 weeks ago, on his right hip and he still hasn't grown all his curly hair back yet!

I think that the cutest thing by far was that he kept trotting over to me and sniffing me, then trotting back to the AS, then me, and finally he trotted over and crawled up on my lap and lied down. The AS was shocked! She said that he hasn't done that to anyone before, so that must be a good sign.

And of course I couldn't stay forever, so when it was time to go, I called him back over to me (and he listened!) and said bye Mr. Charlie! Give me a kiss, and he did that too...

Such a sweet boy! Now I am just waiting to find out if my application is approved or not. They should let me know by Wednesday, and the AS said she didn't see any reason why they wouldn't approve me. But still I will have to wait and see. In the Meantime, Sheila has to go back (I'm fixing a quick dinner now, then we have to leave to be there in 45 minutes) to get her third and final round of shots, and hopefully sense she has been acting like herself again and had a good diet and gotten back into her routine, that will be the end of that. While they have taken her back to do her shots and whatnot, they will bring up Charlie again so I can visit with him some more before ultimately finding out on Wed.



Happy Monday!

Triple "P"

Last Friday night I hosted a ladies night at my place, and the theme was "Triple 'P'"


The first stands for Pink:

Everyone had to wear pink in honor of national breast cancer awareness month. Then I made every talk about self checks and visiting the doctor and all that jazz. And just in case someone wasn't wearing pink, I have Breast Cancer bandaides that I handed out when everyone arrived, so they had a pink ribbon on whether they liked it or not! Other than just wearing pink, I also made adult flavored pink ice pops! They were very good, and they hold well as long as you don't use too much alcohol... luckily for me, mine have fill lines on them!


The Second stands for Pizza:

We made our very own pizzas! I like to say that it was from scratch, but really I just purchased pre-made dough from Trader Joes, along with the sauce, and cheese. I didn't get any toppings just because I didn't want things to get too complex, so I let everyone know in advance it was cheese pizza unless they wanted to bring something to add to it for themselves... nobody brought any additional toppings. I realized after we were ready to start making them that I didn't have a rolling pin, so we used an empty wine bottle! It actually worked very well, not to mention it was pretty hysterical, to use a floured up wine bottle to roll out our dough. Surprisingly enough we didn't do half bad! and it tasted like real pizza!


The Third was for Play:
I wanted to have a ladies game night for a while, and because of Chan's contest, I had an excuse to not only have my ladies game night, but to incorporate her themes of pizza and pink for breast cancer awareness. Then I figured that sense every thing else started with P I would make it Play instead of Game. So we played a few games and had our pizza and ice pops, and it was a very fun night!

Sheila Update

Yes I did go meet Charlie this morning and it went very well, but there will be more to post on that later. Right now I would like to update on my girl.

When we left the vet's office on Tuesday night, things weren't sounding so great. They said that they hadn't seen enough of an improvement with her over the past week and that if no drastic change for the better came about we were going to have to run some diagnostic tests on Monday when I bring her back for her final round of shots. The tests were going to be to find out if she had cancer, fatty liver disease, or anything else along those lines. My job is to keep watching her closely between the appointments and monitor her improvement.

Well I have never seen her as upset and worked up as she was Tuesday night at the Veterinary Clinic. Probably because she had realized that this was the bad place where they poke her with things and make her a little sore, and groggy. I thought she would be somewhat better when we got home, but she still wouldn't even let me touch her for a good half hour... which was fine, she stayed in her carry bag to calm down while I cleaned out her cage.

Then it was like there was a switch that flipped with her when I put her back into her cage. She ran over to her food and water, and was eating and drinking normally, then up to her wheel to run, then down to her litter for a dust bath, and then I swear that if she could smile, she looked out at me and smiled! She is back to normal! I am so relieved--granted I am still monitoring her, but so far, all is well! She has been running again every night, and eating and drinking normally, so I will have a good report to give the Dr. on Monday night when we go in, and then hopefully that will be the end of the stress for a while.

As far as the rest of the weekend goes... this weekend is Reinbeck's Wool festival, and I will be attending with several people from my knitting group. I originally was not going to allow myself to spend any money there, but then my mom, and several other people pointed out to me that if I find something that I love I am going to regret not purchasing it, so I am going with the mindset that I have a limit, and I can only use it on things that I LOVE! Then after the day of shopping all the vendors, and checking out all the cool wooly fun, we are going to an after-party. I'm not sure exactly what all this will entail, but I will be sure to post on it soon! Other than that Sunday I am going to a friends 25th birthday dinner and just running errands earlier in the day.. maybe taking a nap, or just lounging about the house with pj's on and my knitting in my hands :)


Have a great weekend!

Sheila's Second Round of shots...

Tonight Sheila and I will be making another trip to the veterinary clinic so that she can receive her second round of shots. I don't think that she is probably too happy about this, considering her strong dislike for car rides, but she will have to go anyhow.

She is not quite acting herself, and before I thought she was drinking more water than normal, now it seems like she is drinking very little water... and it doesn't look like the level of her food is going down much. Although she has eaten a blueberry from me every night when I've had her out. Who knows, I'm sure I'm just overreacting a bit, and worrying about her.

I'm sure they will tell me if anything has changed for the better or worse in the last week.

In the meantime, I did talk to the adoption specialist on the phone yesterday afternoon, and she had all the right answers for me. So while I am at the vet's office tomorrow, I am picking up an adoption form to look over. Then on Friday I am going to meet Charlie very early in the morning.

The good news about him is that although he has had to have surgery on both of his hips, the doctor said that there is no sign of Charlie needing surgery due to the same issues, that it was taken care of in the previous surgery. The bad news is that the family that used to own him claimed that he had fallen down a flight of stairs, although with his timidness and the way he gets nervous around children, the adoption specialist thinks that the children of the family may have abused him, and that he was probably pushed down the stairs as apposed to falling. Then the family gave him up so that they wouldn't have to pay for the surgeries.

Despite his less than charming past, he seems to be in good health, and should be a great fit for me. As long as he likes me when I go to meet him this Friday. Then I will make my decision after that.

For now, I am hoping for the best with My Sheila, and I will keep you posted on both of these 4-legged babes.

What's for dinner?

Well, I have been planning to do some sort of crock pot dinner for a while now, so I finally decided to stop planning and actually do it!

What did I make in my beautiful crock pot? Why Beef and Barley Stew... And it turned out very well! It does make a lot of servings for just one person, but I don't have to do anything really, just a bit of prep work, and then serving it out at dinner time. And now I have some frozen meals, as well as a few lunches or dinners in the fridge. Which is great for when I have limited time!

I have a really good recipe for White Bean Turkey Chili too, which I will make soon, but what are your favorite crock pot dishes? I need more ides for this cool cooker!


Happy Dining :)

Contemplation

I am considering adopting a one and a half year old Toy Poodle that I found at the Vet's office when I brought Sheila in this past weekend. His name is charlie, and he is freaking cute.

Here is what I know about him already: He is potty trained (I spend too much time with children... what do you call this with animals? House broken? That sounds wrong... maybe house fixed.. eh potty trained works!), he is crate trained and can spend 8-12 hours in his crate without issues (although I think this is sad, and I would only have him in it while I was working), he is apricot colored, and I know his age and breed as I stated above, and sadly he has a bad hip. The good news is that he has already had surgery to fix it.

The things that I plan on asking this weekend and know I need to find out in order to make an educated decision about whether or not to get him:
1. How did he initially hurt his leg?
2. Would he need more surgery due to the same issue or is it taken care of with the first surgery?
3. How much does that type of surgery typically cost?
4. What happens if I do have to keep him in the crate for a long period of time (closer to 10-12 hours instead of 8-9) could he injure himself?
5. What are his physical restrictions due to his bad hip?
6. Is he on any regular medications? How much do they cost?
7. Does he have any special dietary needs?


Like I said, I will call and ask these questions within the next few days, and then if I still want to proceed I will visit with him while miss Sheila is receiving her next round of shots. If you have any questions to add to my list, please let me know! I want to get all the information I can before I make my ultimate decision.

I have been instructed..

To tell you all the wonderful things I have in my life... or at least those of those that I am thankful for, and that make me feel blessed. (Instructed by miss Channon, by the way, she is feeling very thankful this month for a few reasons, which you can read about on her blog.)

I am of course thankful for the obvious, food, shelter, clothing, water, transportation, etc... and then I am thankful for a few more... Starting with my family.. I am one of the lucky ones that gets more than your average 2 parents, to love and support me, and help me whenever they can, I have a sister whom is very loving and considerate, and always puts me before herself (as well as many other people);
I am thankful for Sheila who was my only local friend when I moved 3,000 miles away from everything that I knew, and I am extremely blessed to have found a vet that not only works well with Sheila, but has worked with other hedgies and knows what she is doing!
I am thankful for my amazing network of friends, both near and far, through the blog-o-sphere, and through live encounters, all of whom I can contact when I need opinions, or just want to share about my life.

I am a very blessed individual to have all of these wonderful things surrounding me through my life.

What are you thankful for, and how blessed are you feeling? If you have something to say on the topic, you might consider going over to Chan Knits Blog, and looking into the contest posted here. It is going through October 26th I believe.

Sheila Is going to be fine

The Veterinarian said that she was the most handle-able hedgie she has ever had in, and that I must be a great hedgie mommy :)

She also said that although the expectant life of a hedgehog is 3-5 years and Sheila will be 3 in December, that her heart and lungs are functioning normally and she has no bumps or lesions on her tummy.. hedgies are also prone to a few different types of cancer that would cause bumps... so she is good there, and the lesions would be due to an aggressive parasite of some sort. She was losing her quills, but because she is eating normally and drinking normally... they think she is fine, but the losing quills is not normal. They put her under a small amount of anesthesia so that they could get a skin scraping and check more thoroughly for bumps or lesions. Again they found nothing, so they are giving her 3 doses of medicine to treat for any parasite that she might have. She got the first one from the vet yesterday and will get the next 2 within the next 2-3 weeks.

I will say that I was worried sick, and driving myself insane, so I am glad that it was nothing big! The funniest thing was that they have a little mini stethoscope to for hedgies (and other small babies I'm sure) to listen to their little hearts, and little lungs with. When the Vet was holding Sheila and trying to listen to her heart and lungs, sheila balled up around the stethoscope and was practically dangling from it.. which made it perfect for listening to her lungs, although it wasn't quite positioned correctly to hear her heart so I assisted in holding her for that.

I am so happy to know that there is a vet only half an hour away that I can take my baby to... just in case anything else goes on. Not to mention that she (the vet) has actually seen hedgies before, which is a huge plus because I wouldn't want anyone who didn't know what they were doing to be looking at her!

Anyhow, thank you for you good thoughts, and she is fine! Like I said a few more shots of medicine and she will be as good as new!

Sheila Is Sick :(

I don't know for sure what is wrong, but she certainly isn't acting like her normal self, and I am being a very worried mama... I was doing all this research online, and don't get me wrong the internet is great, but not when it basically tells you your baby is going to die! Not good!

So I found a vet that told sees hedgies and I am taking her in this afternoon.. they are squeezing me in because they don't have an opening but knew that it was important to me. (I think I like them already.) Although she doesn't much like riding in her carry bag, she needs to make this trip.. Sorry girlie.

Best case scenario, she is fine and I was freaking out for nothing.. At least I can get her checked out just to make sure, and hopefully that is that.


Wishful thinking today for my girl.