First Cast Iron Skillet Meal- YUM!

Sunday Chicken!!

Nate's Room. :(

Thanksgiving Feast Helpers

Making the thanksgiving feast was a family affair today...

Austin & Girls

Chef AJ

AJ made dinner tonight (with a little help)!!!  Beef Roast with mushroom-onion sauce and Dijon herb potatoes. It was EPIC!

Science Fun

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Time!

Christmas ideas

ok...some of you have asked for Christmas ideas from me.....here are a few

Southern Enterprises Scrolled Standing Coat Rack and Umbrella Stand - Standing

Liz Claiborne New York Cotton Cashmere Button Front V-Neck Cardigan — QVC.com  (size XL   color....oatmeal)


Buy Winterberry Jolly Santa Sealed Cookie Jar online at Pfaltzgraff.com


Rowenta 2013 Fashion Week 1725 Watt Iron with Platinium Soleplate — QVC.com

a new universal remote like the one we've already got,,,,it's Logitec I think....

2013 School Pictures

Halloween Goodies!

Bridge Fishermen- Sunday

It's Official! Abby Fenn

AJ- Waffle Chef

Charlie...

Well Charlie really grew on us. He was very animated and affectionate.  On Saturday morning, the nice, retired couple that was fostering him called and said they really missed him and asked if we would let them formally adopt him themselves.  It was apparent to us that the truly loved the dog and after a unanimous family vote, we felt that the right thing would be to let them have Charlie.  

We returned Charlie to them that day.  The lady was so grateful and tears welled up when she saw him again.  We're glad that they'll all have each other.  

Charlie (maybe soon to be Charlie Fenn)

So this is Charlie.  He is a rescue dog that was in a kill shelter and was severely neglected.  He was found in kennel that was filthy and entirely too small.  When he was found, he was covered in poop and malnourished to the point of skin and bones.  He spent the last 2 months in foster care and we brought him home yesterday for a one week trial.  

Yesterday he was very stand-offish. He would bark and growl at us and cower when we tried to touch him. Last night we let him sleep wherever he wanted -which turned out to be with everyone at different stages of the night- and he woke up this morning a totally different dog.  He's playful and loving.  He and Chloe are posturing a bit, but nothing I think they won't get over in a couple days.  

Fingers are crossed that he will stay with us.  :)

storm damage

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/Storm-damage-cleanup-across-Iowa/-/9357080/22047008/-/xxkhq6z/-/index.html

Another Milestone

Check one more thing off the list...

Donor Ear

Zombie Grandma

Hey boys, feel free to steal this look for Halloween

First Day of 5, 4, 1

Cuddle Babies

Nate and Chloe

Lunch Nerds

Furry Chloe.

Here's how Chloe looked when we got her. Her hair was terribly matted and we had to shave her practically bald to fix the problem. Once she gets a little fluff grown back, she'll look great!

Meet Chloe!

So I came home from work on Wednesday, and this little guy was hiding under the kitchen table.

Actually, it wasn't after I examined her and couldn't find the dog's guy business that we realized she was a girl...

Her name is Chloe.  Nina and the boys picked her up from a kill shelter in St. Pete.  It's really hard to imagine this dog getting put down.  She's a full-bred, AKC-registered Shih Tzu, and her previous owners apparently cared for her, because she's micro-chipped, although she hasn't been fixed yet.  Nevertheless, animal control found her wandering around with another dog, and no one claimed her.

The shelter gave us until Tuesday to decide if we want to keep her, at which point we could return her and get her money back.  It didn't take us very long to realize she's a keeper.  She's already house-trained and very well-behaved, showing no signs of any trauma she's endured.  She doesn't bark.  Her favorite activity is perching herself on laps and getting scritched.  If you stop scritching her, she'll dig her snout under your hand to remind you that she requires additional scritching.  She loves taking walks around the neighborhood, and from the first time we took her out, she knew which house was hers.

Seems like we've gotten very lucky...

Mount Carmel

If all goes according to plan, today was the last day mom would be visiting Mount Carmel for rehab.  It's hard to believe that it has been only since the middle of May that we even heard of this place.  Also, sitting downstairs in the physical therapy area, it is strange to think that mom used to actually live in this place.

Mom expressed her gratitude to her therapists, but we booked it out of there very quickly.  There isn't much more to tell, but I thought you might be interested in the last few pics and videos I shot.

This first one was just a grassy excursion - one more time - to give Kelly, her therapist, some piece of mind that mom will once again be able to scamper away into the woods.

Then, in this next one, you can see her making mom trudge up the biggest hill in the place.  Sisyphus would be proud.

This last video is just a bit more proof that mom is on her way back to climbing down long flights of stairs like she never, ever has to do.

A few parting pictures:

The window on the second level next to the balcony was mom's room.  Now it is someone else's room and let's pray they did not see me taking pictures of it.  I am not a stalker of the elderly.

The steamy back patio.

The stairway from heaven.  Or to hell.  Or just from some storage room down to the occupational therapy area.  Either way, it's a lot of steps.

Speaking of OT, here's a final panoramic shot of the OT room.  It's janky and crowded, but mom made a lot of progress in here.

 Coming soon...Rehab Part II: The Day Institute!