Old man Max

We had to make a tough choice two weeks ago, we moved our dog Max out of the house. Many of our friends are familiar with Max our nine year old doxie/lab mix. We saved him from the ASPCA nine years ago and immediately knew he was going to take major work. He liked to run away, no matter how long we walked him. He liked to piddle when you looked at him wrong or wanted him to do something. 

But, he was good with the kids and very loyal. He always came home when he ran away. He finally calmed down after crate training but the two major issues have remained. The last three years have been pretty decent until recently. He started regressing and going back to his old behaviors. The last straw was when he purposely marked two household items. We decided he needed to go live outside for the rest of his life.

This shocked some of our closest friends, everyone knows Max was king with Marty but it was Marty who finally made the choice. We bought him a heat lamp for his kennel, gave him plenty of blankets and trained him not to scratch at the door. Guess what?

He has calmed down and the stress level in the house has gone down considerably. He is happy and we are happy. We put the kennel near our bedroom so he can be close and look in the slider. He seems so much happier and calmer. We probably should have done this years ago. 

Product review: Keurig platinum brewer

 A few years ago, my Dad told me about this coffee maker at his work. He said all you do is pick your flavor and pop in the little cup and press brew. I had a pod coffeemaker at the time and thought that was what he was talking about. He wasn't, he was talking about a Keurig which was being sold for industrial use at the time.

Fast forward four years later and everyone was talking about the Keurig. I tried it once at a homeschool family's home and loved it. Marty was disillusioned after my short lived coffee pod maker and thought it was a waste of money since the other was short lived.

Finally this year for my birthday he bought me a Keurig Platinum brewer from Costco which comes with the my K-cup and 60 k-cups to try out.

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 I love it!!! Hot coffee brewed in about 30 seconds. Since I am the only coffee drinker in the house and typically only drink two cups a day, this saves on waste. I used to constantly be dumping coffee in my garden and cleaning the pot. Now all I do is pop in a K- cup and hit brew.
 

  There are many different kinds of K-cups and many places to buy them. So far Bed,Bath and Beyond is where I have been buying mine. The typical cost is seven to ten dollars a box at most places. I have bought some on sale a Target and I did find regular Folgers brand at my local grocery store for about six dollars. I know many people who buy them online but so far, I haven't tried that. So far my favorite brand is Green Mountain Coffee Nantucket blend and Donut House Decaf. Right now I am using Donut House cinnamon roll and Gloria Jean's pumpkin spice. I really haven't had too many flavors that I didn't like. I highly recommend buying one of these brewers, they are worth the investment and truly the new breed of coffee makers. No mess, no waste and hot coffee in seconds.

Daddy's home( not my Dad, the kids Dad and my hubby)

                              Big news, Marty is off work for the next three months!

 One of the stipulations Stanford had was they wanted Marty to take some time off work.  They felt this might help improve his bloodwork and stablize him. As you all know, Marty didn't really want to stop working and I fully supported him. In July he switched schedules and things started to go downhill fast. We were sleeping two to three hours a day, trying to do his dialysis. He wasn't sleeping due to fluid overload and even his co-workers started to ask questions. Then the final nail was the dreaded call from Stanford taking him off the list.

 So October 4th was Marty's last day at work until January 4th. He can only take six months off total and we wanted him to have time left for after the transplant. The second problem was, he only had enough sick time to cover one month off. Good thing we pay into two long term disability plans, right? WRONG.

Because he is a state employee, he doesn't qualify for state disability which pays 80 percent  what we get anyway due to furloughs. He has to supplement the 50 percent with time( sick and holiday) to cover the other 50 percent. We thought, no problem, we will just use one of the long term plans to get 100 percent. WRONG! the plan only pays a 60 percent maximum and then if you get 50 percent from the state it only pays 16 percent. WOW! What a shock to us and a huge blow.

Marty had little time left on the books after three years of being sick. He had to burn many sick days when he was feeling sick while working. He didn't squander them or blow them, he was really sick on those days. Something he has never experienced in his entire working career.

So, we decided that I should get a job to help out. But, how do I take a job when I will have to quit the minute he gets the call? I just would have to be fired, something that has never happened to me. But, what else could we do short of Marty going back to work and not taking time off?

We set up a time bank at his work, hoping his co-workers would maybe donate extra time. Marty and our friend Matt both thought that would not happen. Due to furloughs and other co-workers being sick, people are holding on to their time.

Yesterday while filling out disability papers and speaking to human resources, Marty found out that his co-workers had donated 230 hours to him. Enough to cover the three months off and then some! Praise God for answered prayers and for the kindness of others. We both were overwhelmed and touched by the generosity of his co-workers.

This lifted a huge burden and allows me to continue to stay home and help Marty. Scheduling appointments, pharmacy issues and doctor's appointments fill up our days. On top of that, four dialysis treatments a day and finding a new schedule for those.  It has been easier with him not working and trying to schedule around that. I think we both feel a weight has been lifted off our chests.

So we are now trying to get on a routine, Marty is growing a beard and helping out with schooling. If you are one of my friends that I call and you haven't heard from me lately, I am not ignoring you but just trying to establish a routine. Four people home all day together takes a lot of time and effort to settle in.

That's part of the news. I will share the rest on Sunday which will be the eve of the third anniversary of waiting for transplant.

Thanks for praying, reading, writing, commenting and supporting us these past three years. We feel the love and care from our support system.

Comments?Complaints? Suggestions? Bueller...Bueller?

 

*taps the microphone* Is Anybody out there?


 A strange thing has happened, I get very little comments on the blog anymore. Mainly just Di and Andrea who read and comment. I thought maybe it was the Google comment system discouraging people and so I added the Disqus comment system. It allows you to sign in with Twitter and Facebook instead of making a Google account. Still nothing.

Blogging isn't as much fun without the feedback and comments. I am not begging for comments here but I wonder why? Why do people not comment? I know that I get a ton of traffic ( I have a blog tracker embedded in the blog) and people tell me all the time they read the blog.

So what gives? nothing to say? I never have been a quiet person and always have something to say. I love reading and commenting on blogs. It encourages the writer and often is helpful.

Is it too hard to comment? Do you not like the comment system?

It really doesn't matter in the long run. I am still going to blog and don't need comments to keep me going. It is just something that I am curious about. I am sure only the regulars will comment and this post will be in vain. I am laughing and smiling as I type this blog. It is very tongue in cheek and meant to be funny for the most part.

Have a great Thursday and thanks for reading.

Wordless Wednesday

Time machine Tuesday

 For awhile now I have been wanting to go back through my blogs and edit some of the older blogs. Since I started blogging in 2005, my writing has vastly improved. I guess practice does help and reading good writing from others helps. I am still a work in progress, but I can see the growth.

 I also like to constantly look back at where we have come from and see all the things that have changed or happened since then. This first blog, is from the summer of 2006 and a great Conner story. It's official title is Vacation but I like it call it:

Conner's wild ride

It's that time of year again! NaBloPoMo 2010

I am excited, November is here once again and so is National Blog Posting Month. It's a challenge to post a blog a day the entire month. My friend Di got me to start participating in 2007 along with Andrea, it's a fun friendship ritual of sorts. What does that mean? Basically Di harrasses Andrea and I until we post, she likes to send fun motivational emails ( tongue in cheek) until we do. Kidding aside, it really is fun for us and something we look forward to each year.

I am going to try some new things this year, Time Machine Tuesdays where I share older blog posts, Wordless Wednesday's where I share pictures or videos. I always have a lot to say and usually have five to seven blogs running around in my head at any given time. So this is a great chance to get them all out and posted.

This is a particularly monumental November, it marks the fifth anniversary of my blogging debut. Back then it was a Myspace blog that eventually morphed into this monster blog. Blogging has brought me through some of the hardest times in my life. It has brought me two of my best friends in the entire world. It has been a baby book of sorts for my kids and it has been a carthartic experience during Marty's illness.

I hope you all will read along and support me this month. Also, support my blogging friends who are joining in this year.


Di's blog
OC Mama
  Andrea's blog ( Not sure Andrea is doing it this year but just in case)
  Sam's blog ( Sam's a new blogger and I am hoping to help her get into the habit)