Good as new......Almost!

Last Mon. I took my car into the body shop to get fixed from the damage made by the Mayor. On the way to Enterprise the guy and I were chit chatting. Turns our the next day he was takin his pilots license test. Pertty cool! He was such a nice guy! Also his shop was very affordable! We had never had the damage fepared from when I rearended someone so we got an esitmate and it was a LOT less then what we had thought it would be. So we had that fixed too. So I was very excited that my car was going to be good as new (almost) again! But I've had the crappiest rental car ever this whole week! They gave me a ford focus! It honestly put me in a bad mood to drive it! I know I'm spoiled, but it's true! The thing had no automatic windows, locks, seats, tilt wheel, window tint, or power! And my massage table barely fit in the trunk! I hated driving it. But I survived, I finally got the call from the body shop that my car was ready. I pull up and see my car, whith a hole still in the bumper. When I got in I asked him, did you guys just not get the time to fix my bumper? Oh he felt so bad!!! He hadn't printed up an estimate, just written one down for me, so he forgot! He said with is test his mind just wasn't in the right place! But he said I could just bring it in for about an hour and they would have the new bumper all ready to go so I wouldn't have to get another rental car! I can't wait till it's all done!

Post Op

So everything went very well with Bosco's surgery. He is healing well. The cone on his head is just as funny as we thought it would be. It is sad too! Our poor Bosco! He was so out of it when we first got him back from the vet! He couldn't walk in a straight line, he kept bumping into things. He was so out of it that when he was drinking he forgot to like his lips and was drooling all over! He was having a rough time getting around. He hadn't quite figured out how to find his way around with a lamp shade on his head, so he was bumping into everything! He was sad and whining because he kept trying to lay on the side he'd had surgery on. But the next day he was just good as new. His stitches are still healing but he's our happy Bosco again! The results came back and the bump that was removed was cancer so we are glad we went ahead and had it removed! The Dr. is not worried about anything at this point, so we are all healthy and well!

A Reverse What????

We had to take Bosco into the vet to get some more blood work done to check how he was responding to the Valley Fever medication. So he had some blood drawn and we got the results back. Great news he his responding very well! The Dr. is going to lower his medication levels, which is great news because the medicine they have him on is very hard on the liver, so lower dosage is a great thing! While we were there I had the Dr. check this bump that Bosco has had on his butt for a week or two (that we've noticed) I'm so glad I had him take a look. He was very concerned about it! Apparently Boxers are prone to cancer and he said it looked like it could be cancerous! So lucky Bosco gets to go in early monday morning and have surgery to remove the bump! He'll have to wear one of those lamp shade things after ward! So I'm sure there will be great pics coming soon! While we were going to be at the vet any way we decided to take Bentley in for a check up and to ask some questions about some....odd things he does. For example he snorts. Not like a normal dog snort but like an old man (it kind of reminds me of my Grandy) trying to (sorry this is gross) suck up a luggie. Eww I know but that's the best way I can think to describe it! Well it's REALLY loud (suprisingly loud from such a little dog) and he does it in the middle of the night and wakes us up. And it does concern me a little. It didn't seem normal to me. Well the Dr. said it was most likely because of allergies. We had already figured out he has allergies because he's been sneezing and scratching a lot more lately. But he said the snorting is a REVERSE SNEEZE!!! Who in the world has ever heard of a reverse sneeze! Wierdest thing. He also will make this hacking noise. It sounds like a cat trying to hack up a fur ball but nothing ever comes out! That is a collapsing trachea. Yep so he is trying to open up his air way. What a crazy noisy little dog! Also before we took them to the vet I couldn't resist having a little fun with Bentley's long hair, since I'm going to have to cut it short again soon since it's getting hot again. And so I took some pics. Enjoy!

Bentley with Crazy hair


Bentley with a Mohawk


And like the little devil he is!!

A Rose by Any Other Name......

Is still a Rose. And a pyramid scheme by any other name is still, STUPID!!! So on Tues night someone we know called us and said he was starting an online business and was going to make a lot of money. He wanted to know if we wanted to hear about it. So we said sure, why not, what would it hurt right. So we were driving over there (I'm so grateful for a smart husband who insisted we could drive ourselves rather then having them pick us up and being stuck there!!) and thinking this is probably a pyramid scheme. We showed up about halfway through the presentation. It was so funny to see all the people in the audience nodding there heads, and clapping, so excited, so enthusiastic. They were all suckered in! They guy was drawing on a chart how it works and it was half a pyramid! I was laughing so hard (on the inside of course) at the fact that at least they were smart enough to only draw half of it. It totally reminded me of The Office episode where Michael was trying to get everyone to do this new business with him and kept saying it wasn't a pyramid scheme and then Jim went up and drew around all the little people and made a pyramid! Ha ha Well when there was a break and it was time for them to come and make the sale we told them no thank you it's not for us. Of course they kept trying a little harder. So we told them, actually we are in the process of opening our own spa and that is the direction we are headed. Then they said well you are going to need to buy things for your spa why not make money off of your purchases!! So I told them our plan of having online business that sell the products where we can purchase them whole sale and then make a prophet off of our expenses. There were silenced! They had no response! That was the best part of the whole evening!!! They had nothing to say to that. It was just kind of hummm maybe they are smarter then we gave them credit for. When we got home we googled the "business" and found out that dateline has even done a story about it! People have lost thousand of dollars doing this! I'm so glad we are smart people! It really does amaze me at how gullible people can be!

Claim to Fame

Or maybe claim to pain! So sat. I was at a clients to give her a massage. We get done and head up stairs and her husband says to me....Terina you are going to need that information there, it's for Steve across the street....I start thinking oh good maybe they want me to come do massages for them, nope......he was leaving and backed into your car. He left his contact info so you can get his insurance info. I just thought are you kidding me! What a week! So I went and looked at the damage above my passeranger rear tire there is a good sized dent. It's not too bad, still driveable. Well as my clients and I are looking at the damage he says to me, well here is your claim to fame, the mayor of Gilbert hit your car! I just laughed!! Well needless to say he has been very easy to deal with and it looks like everything will be taken care of quickly. I took it in for an estimate this morning and I'm glad there taking care of it because it's over $1000 in damage! I also got an estimate on the front of my car where I rearended someone (yeah did I ever tell you about that?) and it's going to be a lot less to take care of then I thought. Not only that but someone else will be paying for the rental car and he's going to not charge me some of the normal fees for the part I will be paying for because the mayor will already be paying them! So maybe this is a blessing in disguise!

Here are some pics of the damage







I'll keep everyone posted on how it turns out!!

Memorial

On Monday I went up to Prescott with my Uncle Forrest and his family. We went up to attend the unveiling of a memorial for homicide victims in Yavapi county. They had chosen my Aunt Misty to be part of the memorial. This is a description of the project.

The Homicide Victim Remembrance Display, created in 2008, is a collaborative effort of the Yavapai County (Arizona) Attorney’s Office Victim Services Division and Arizona Department of Corrections Restorative Justice Program. The goal of the display is threefold:

ADVOCACY—ensuring that a victim has a voice even after their life is taken

REMEMBRANCE—honoring the memory of those who have died at the hands of another

AWARENESS—realizing the extent of violence and homicide within Yavapai County

The display includes an array of life sized silhouettes, each representing a person who died in Yavapai County as a result of another’s wrong doing. Each figure is handmade by prison inmates from materials donated through the Restorative Justice Program. Family members of each victim provided mementos in remembrance of their loved one.

The Homicide Victim Remembrance Display is a tribute to those who can be too easily forgotten. Let their silhouettes stand as a reminder for all; to treat victims and survivors with dignity and respect, to celebrate the memory of homicide victims, and to seek justice for an unjustifiable act.

If you are local please take the time to see the display this week, April 7 to 11 at the Yavapai County building on Fair St (across from Fry’s) or next week, April 14 to 18 during Victim Rights Week at the gazebo down on the square.


This was much more emotionally draining then I had planned for. I had tried to prepare myself for this event that I knew would be difficult, packed my Kleenex, and thought that I would be ok. We drove to my Grammy's where we met my Aunt Starlene and cousins, the children of my Aunt Misty. It was there that my aunt Starlene gave me a copy of the part of the display we provided. It had a picture of Misty on it along with a poem written about her and our loss. I started reading it on the way to the memorial, I had to stop and take some deep breaths, keep reading. I did that a few times before I realized there was no way I could read it with out becoming a mess. So I set it aside to read later. We went to the county building and looked over most of the display. They were nice silhouettes of all of the victims, 10 in total. Each one had a shield on their chest with their birth and death date, a brief description of there victimization, and the sentence for the perpetrator. Then beneath that was the page contributed by the family. Even being a relative of a victim of a violent crime it is still unbelievable to me the way some of those people died. So unnecessarily, so sudden, so young! We went in to the meeting where they declared April to be Yavapi county victim awareness month (I don't think that's exactly what it was but something to that effect). They then read the names of the victims and asked the family who where there for each person to stand as there name was read. There we were in a county council meeting and the co chair stood as one of the names was read. It was interesting to look around the room at those standing. So many people! All were different in age, race, background, but we were all there united in remembrance of those we love. It was such a dramatic visual of the fact that violence know no bounds. Rich, poor, black, white, hispanic, old, young, the violent decisions of people effect so many and can strike anyone! The pain of violence is felt by many in this country! I really wish there were a greater awareness and effort to break the cycles of violence. After the council meeting was over we went back out to the lobby where the display was. I finished reading everyone. The saddest part for me was to see my cousins, who were left behind in this crime. They were left with no mother, and a father who had betrayed them. They are all older now, 13-21 but even as they get older the need and loss of there mother never lessens. It has been 10 years since the tragic day when we all lost a woman we loved dearly. You might think as time goes by the loss lessens, but I feel the opposite. The more I move through my life and do things I would love to talk to her about, or events I wish she was at the more the aware I am of my loss. I truly do miss the Aunt I loved so much!

This is a copy of the poem that we put on the silhouette is is too hard to read on the blog but if you click on it you can read it if you are interested. It is printed on there a little wierd so follow the numbers above the paragraphs to read it in the right order.



This is Misty's silhouette



This is one of all of them together

Camp Verde

Friday Brent & I went up to Camp Verde with Brent's Dad. We met Jim (Brent's Dad) at 6:30 am! Then we drove up to Camp Verde. We met Brent's uncle Larry and Aunt Carol at the grave site of Brent's Grandparents. The cemetary in Camp Verde is mostly just dirt and weeds so they wanted to do something to make it nicer. They had already laid a concrete slab earlier. We brought up some rock, it is very nice stuff that looks like flagstone, but it is made out of concret so it is longer lasting and much more durable to the weather. Once we got there we worked hard and cleaned the slab and poured something on it to make the rocks stick. Then we laid all the rock. Once that was done we made a quick trip (half hour away) to Home Depot and got some grout for the rock. We then mixed and poured the grout. If you've ever done this then you understand what a big job this is! Our hands were all so dry when we were done! I didn't think to take off my wedding ring and I couldn't even see my diamond by time we were done! But when we were done it looked very nice! I'll confess when we first got started I thought, hum I dont know how this is going to look, but it really turned out very nice. I just didn't have the vision that Jim did! He has a nack for being able to picture the final results of a project. This is what the final result was (sorry for the bad pics I forgot the camera so we just had to use our phone)




After we left on the way home we stopped at the greatest little resturant in Black Canyon City! It's an Amish Kitchen. So good! And I would know I've had Amish food from Amish people in PA! Brent and I always try and stop there when we are passing through. We finally arrived home around 10:30, what a long day! The next couple of days my hands peeled from the grout! I've never seen my hands like that, it was a little unsettling!

Seth's Baby Blessing

So last sunday March 30th we headed to Prescott for Seth's baby blessing. Brent and I rode up with Forrest and Jeanette and there kiddos. That was fun! Although there was a moment on the way home when the kids were stuck in a moment of boredom, singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall, Brent and I looked at each other and said we want kids right? Yeah yeah we do. Ha! ha! We got into Prescott and headed to Grammy's house, but only Stacy was there, everyone else had already left. So we all changed and left for the church. We got there and sat in the chapel almost reverently, waiting for church to start. It was so neat to see so many familar faces from years ago! The blessing was great! So happy for Trenton and Ali and there little family. After the blessing we we to a near by park and had a BBQ. It would have been great if we removed the wind and added a few degrees on the thermostat. It was WAY too windy. The wind kept taking Seth's breath away and blowing us all over! All of us thin blooded people were freezing! But despite the weather we had a great time! What a fun trip! So nice to see everyone.


Grammy and Starlene

Look how happy and cute he is!!!

Shawna and Seth

Chelsea and Seth

Ethan was camera shy, but I put him up anyway!!

Grammy and Starlene were hiding from the weather in the car.

Trenton & Ali with Ali's Family

Forrest and Jeanette

Seth in his blessing outfit

Shawna and Taylor

Chelsea and Laycee

Jake, Mom, Taylor and some unidentified person, maybe Cameron