Bye Bye, Leo :(

We have had Leo since a few months after we got married in 2000. After a few years, Leo started having symptoms that could describe a number of diseases and illnesses. We went down a long road of emergency office visits, IVs and exploratory surgery before on one trip to the animal ER, a doctor suggested that he may have Addison's disease. We took him back to his regular doctor. They ran some test. They came back positive. He had Addison's. We were not ready to lose him. Addison's dog live a relatively normal life and normal life span. The down side, he needed really expensive medication monthly to keep him alive. So we decided he was worth it and went forward with the treatment (Florinef). He had to take 7 pills twice a day (if I remember correctly). After we started treatment, he would be fine for a while and then crash again. This happened pretty often. Then he was switched to the once a month injection (Percorten). This was a huge difference and Leo acted like a puppy again. We did run into a couple more crashes here and there and need to adjust dosage, etc. He was also taking a steroid daily because his body made none.

This march, he started showing symptoms of having another Addison's crash. We took him to the vet expecting to put him on an IV for a day or two and bring him back home. That didn't happen. After getting blood work results back, it turned out to be something else. It mimicked his normal Addison's episodes. Even his doctor didn't believe it. She ordered the blood work two more times getting the same results. She even sent it out to the state lab, and got the same results. He had yet another disease. This one was worse and sudden. He had Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. He was anemic and needed a blood transfusion. Even then, that may not save him. We decided if was time to give up the fight. I know he was tired of fighting. It showed. He had aged a lot over the past couple of years. It was time to let him rest. He will definitely be missed.

 This was when Leo was having one of his bad days. Katelyn knew he didn't feel well.

This was taken the day before we said goodbye...

Time Out

Billy and I decided to go with time outs rather than spanking. We chose this method not because we are against spanking and think it is abusive. We just wanted to give it a go. We both remember being kids, and at least for me, spankings were not as devastating as having something taken away or being grounded. A spanking hurt for a second, and then, we moved on. Plus, I think spanking is a confusing message. (A kid hits you, so you hit/spank them to teach them not to hit?!?!) Anyway, off my soapbox for now. So far, it seems to be working. We haven't had to spank Katelyn. I always find other ways to correct her, and I think she's a pretty good kid. Anyway... just a little background for these pictures. I thought this was funny. Katelyn put Derf, our Elf on the Shelf, in time out.

I'm not sure what Deft did, but I'm sure he won't do it again. LOL. It's good to know that she won't be hitting/spanking her stuffed animals.

My First Upcycle Project

Wow! I kinda suck at updating my blog... Moving on. I have been on a kick of wanting to upcycle and repurpose things lately. My first project was pretty easy. I bought a train table at a garage sale for like $5. I  forgot to take a before picture of the whole table, but here is the top. My original plan was to just flip these pieces over and paint them with chalkboard paint. Then, paint the table purple. Simple enough. After closer examination of these top pieces though, they were pretty mildewed.

So I bought a piece of thin wood to replace the top, and painted it with chalkboard paint.

I also painted the sides of the table with chalkboard paint. They originally had landscape scene to match the top.

The remainder I painted with a free quart of purple I got from a promo deal.

Katelyn approves :) This was one of her Christmas presents.