many many thanks...

 ...for the kind words, I know you all have gone through this too.  I won't get into details, because it's just so sad, but it was definitely Suri's time to go.  The vet explained to us that the manner in which she passed indicated she was in a lot of pain.  He pointed out a new swelling on her hip, where her tumor had been removed, so it was inevitable, but we spared her some rough days.  

On her last day, she got so many pets.  I know there were some who wanted to come say goodbye, but it was a crazy baking day here too, wedding cakes and cupcakes!  Jon did stop by after work, and Joseph came over.  

She blessedly had no idea, which made us cry even harder.  There was a lady in the waiting room with a huge fat bunny in a cage, who has a dog at home named Pepper who looks just like Suri, nine years old.  I am normally besties with everyone who wants to have a waiting room conversation, but I did not tell her that this was Suri's last vet visit, she seemed like a happy lady, and I didn't want to make her sad.  

Sunny is a little puzzled this morning.  She would not go out the front door.  I walked down and opened the door, she just stood there looking around.  I finally got her to go out the deck door by going with her, telling her to Go Potty and I'll Give You a Treat!  She understood that well enough.  When I fed her, she looked at me, sniffed Suri's empty bowl, and looked at me again.  She is no dummy, and she knows Suri isn't here.  

I'm headed to the pool this fine morning, then to the Airbnb around noon.  Am I packed yet?  ha.  I have so many things on my list though...the food in the extra refrigerator, and in the chest freezer, the cakes and cupcakes and coffee grinder and cake stands and cupcake stands and frosting ingredients and the gallon of milk...most of it is on the kitchen table ready to go into Evelyn's car when she gets here, some is in the back of my car.  I have to pack my clothes for the weekend, but I did get my vitamins packed last night.  

The cakes will go into the freezer of the Airbnb when we get there, so we can frost them frozen on Saturday.  They need to be trimmed first...the cupcakes are all packed up in containers, I made 48 mini vanilla, 64 large ones, and 24 large chocolate.  There will also be a three layered cake, if all goes well and the creek don't rise?  

No pressure, it's just a wedding.

Anyway.  I woke up at 5:59, and got up right away, put some clothes in the washer, and put away some dishes, packed a few things. I'm super excited about this weekend, all sixteen of my kids will be there on Sunday...that makes my heart just overflow.  :).  I am super happy for Evelyn too!

I'll end today with some sweet pictures from last week, with Jamie and Suri: 

We would have to bring her bowl to her...then a few days later, she wasn't eating...Jamie heard us say that.

He sat there and fed her little by little, saying, "Eat, Eat!" and she took it from his hand so gently, and she ate.  She was such a good dog.  

You all have a really nice weekend, and hopefully on Monday, I'll have a new family picture!!!!  

she's headed for that bridge...

 ...that rainbow bridge.  Her last car ride.  This is a tearful day, as we had to make that decision that every dog owner dreads...Miss Suri, Miss Tubby Tubster, is going to visit Dr. Eric tonight.  

Many of you have been through this, I know, but it's so hard.  You know it's coming, but is it actually time yet?  Suri has been struggling for a while.  She had her 13th birthday this last week, and had that cancerous tumor removed last month.  She now has a huge growth on her abdomen, a tummy tumor.  She has one on her face that was bleeding last night.  She can barely move, struggles to stand up, then is like a newborn baby calf taking it's first steps.  She hasn't been eating, except for treats.  She still makes the piggy noises for the ham, that's hiding doggy aspirin:). (She is also still an expert at gobbling the ham and dropping the pill). 

Last evening Ben and Ashley and Anya, Elise, and Declan came for a visit, to see her and say goodbye.  Ashley has always been one of Suri's favorites, shh, back when they all still lived in Seattle, they would come to visit and Suri would sometimes actually pee when she saw Ashley.  She would wag her entire body.  So last evening, Anya came in first, and Suri was so excited to see her...You smell like your mother, and I love your mother!,  I said in my most Suri voice.

Then Ashley came in and sat with her, oh the wagging!  She didn't get up and run to the door to greet them, but she did a few barks from her doggy bed, and oh she wagged when Ashley pet her.  

Suri has been the best dog.  There has never ever been a mean bone in her body.  She's been so gentle and good with all of the grandkids.  They've been able to pet her and pat her and pull her tail (not that we've let them, but you know how kids can be!).  Tennyson liked to toddle over to her with his bottle, and lie down using her as his pillow.  She would just settle her head down on her paws and sigh.  

She's had a good life.  Once she got the 24 frosted chocolate cupcakes that were sealed in one of those layered plastic cupcake carriers, got it down from the backside of the table near the wall during the night, unlatched it, and ate every cupcake, including the wrappers.  Then there's that Father's Day chocolate cake, it was up high, but not high enough for Miss Piggy.  She ate 3/4 of it, only because that seems to have been all she could reach.  One time we left the house and left a plate of pancakes on the table, for some reason, there were kids home and maybe they were going to eat them, I don't know...but Joseph found Suri splayed out on the kitchen table, sound asleep, with the empty pancake plate between her front paws.

The garbage can was fair game during the night.  We bought one with a latch, but that was child's play, she simply knocked it down and the whole top came right off, so she could snack.  We had to bring the can into the laundry room and close the door.  A few times the door wasn't closed all the way, and she would go in there and knock it down.  A few times the last person up didn't remember to put it away.  She would feast.  It happened just last week...I got up and ugh, there was trash from one end of the kitchen to the other.  I was actually glad about it in a way, the old girl still had enough oomph...

During the day though, she wouldn't even look at the trash can, no sir, not her, she was the very picture of innocence.  

She woke me up at five o'clock this fine morning, with one loud ARF.  She was lying in Paul's office panting and in distress.  I got her some water, she drank a little, but I knew she wanted to go outside.  She got up and made her way to the hallway, peeing a little along the way, then she was laying down again.  I fed her some doggy aspirin in ham, which thankfully she ate.  Around 5:30 I woke up Paul to help me get her down the stairs, and she went out to go to the bathroom.  He carried her back up the stairs, and now she's alternating between quiet sleep and panting.  

She still loves being pet, and is still so sweet.  It's so hard to know that this is the very last day of Suri.  She's just been the best girl, the best doggie, with her big fat paws and her whole body wags.  Her hearing is gone, and she cannot see so well, but she still loves being pet and patted on the head. 

Up until a few weeks ago, part of her morning routine was to try to barge into my bathroom before I was finished in there, because she couldn't wait for the pets.  Sometimes she got the door open and would be extremely pleased with herself.  She would be waiting outside that door to make sure she caught me for those first morning ear rubs.  Thump thump thump went the tail.  Have you ever heard a Labrador walking down a hallway?  The wagging tail knocking into the walls?  

In a perfect world, one would dedicate the entire day to petting that dog who was on her way out, but Miss Char has a dentist appointment...if we reschedule, it'll be autumn before she gets in.  I also have to buy food for this weekend, and get more cupcake wrappers ASAP, as those wedding cupcakes need to be baked.  (I made three layers of cake yesterday, and who knew our oven racks were tilted? one of the cakes is totally crooked, has to be redone....)

So there is so much baking to be done here today.  This weekend will be a joyous occasion.  When the two emotions collide, oh dear...life goes on, and life is good, but oh my heart, I just can't...

She has the white beard now...

We thought she'd like a birthday party during Covid lockdown...

Sunny and Suri, who was the best at Labrador style sitting.

This picture with Evelyn, that face!  

It's hard to see her expression, but that face!

Part black bear?

This is going to be so hard, to camp with just Sunny...half the fun of retrieving that stick was fighting over who got to bring it back to shore, 99% of the time they shared the job.

Who, me?

Suri, the cinnamon donut dog, loved rolling in that sand when she was wet.  

Sunny is going to be a bit lost for a while...we all are.  There is just so much emotion in this decision.  We've talked and reasoned and postponed, but it honestly feels selfish to put it off anymore.  She's not going to get any better, so why wait until she can't get up at all?  Or until she falls down the stairs and gets really hurt?  She's just agitated and can't seem to get comfortable.  The cancer very well could have spread into the lungs, or other places, but we don't see the benefit in more poking and prodding. 

You give your entire heart to a dog.  You love them completely, adore them, talk to them, sing them songs, and you know that half the family sings songs about Suri...Mariel says she has the cutest face on the planet.  A dog is always happy to see you, makes you feel loved and adored.  When that dog comes up to your chair and puts their head on your lap, and wags, well there's nothing like it!  When you come in the door, you're royalty, all the barking and wagging and excitement!  It makes life full and rich and good, and you think how brilliant God is, how kind and merciful, to create man's best friends...

No wonder we're so broken when we have to say goodbye.  

and just like that, it's gone...

 The weekend...so anticipated, but like a vapor.  Our Saturday was spent working at the house across from Sam.  I painted trim and more trim. (I do use an old wooden chair...when I do painting I can do from sitting, I sit...) Char and Cam rolled paint, and cut in, and got so much done.  Paul installed a new bannister rail, and cut things and worked on things, ha, I wasn't really paying attention.  It was a sunny day, and it was hard to be inside, but it has to be done.  

Sunny and Newton, Nate and Paul

It is looking good!  Old houses do have character!

On the way home we stopped at the store and got more ribs for Sunday.  I seasoned and prepared five racks, then made two big pans of macaroni and cheese, all ready to bake on Sunday.  Then we made ice cream cakes for Miss Charlotte Claire, who turned 19 yesterday.  

Those ribs though.  So good.  I do the 3-2-1 method, loosely.  Three hours smoked unwrapped, two hour slathered in sauce (I mixed Sweet Baby Ray's with brown sugar, lime juice, salt, pepper, and lots of cajun seasoning), then wrapped tightly in foil...I cheated and used foil pans, with foil on top, so much easier!), then one hour unwrapped...just took the foil off the tops of the pans.  

Suri is not doing well.  She doesn't always eat her food.  Jamie, just turned two in March, was not having it.  EAT!  he would tell her!  She cannot hear, but she took the food from him, ever so gently, and she ate.

Miss Char....the birthday girl.

When she was in Paris last summer:)

Sonja K. being a fun Auntie with cousins Ruth and Rhys

When Char was little, and Sunny was little too...so cute!

Jamie with ice cream pie...

Ruth

Rhys...

Today we had a brilliantly sunny and warm summer-like day.  Sonja had the day off, she took the girls shopping then came here with sandwich stuff, a bag of ice, a new kiddie pool, and a huge-0 package of water balloons!  Grace and her kids, and Wulf and Tennyson got here when I got back from the pool this morning, then Kathryn came over....then Sonja and the girls...

Ah well....it was a good day.  Sonja and Oscar are moving into a bigger apartment.     

 Char and Cam went to help her a bit, Grace went home, just Kathryn and her kids were here.  I held baby Ellis while Kathryn seared up some steaks in the iron frying pan.  I heated up mac and cheese for the kids, they had some steak too...then Sunny started barking, and there was Joseph coming across the lawn from his car, carrying this lovely plant that he potted himself! 

Shh, I haven't even scrubbed up the chairs and table I bought from marketplace yet, but this looks lovely there I think.  It was a nice visit with Joe.  Paul got back from doing some work on the house, and brought out his guitar, so he and Joseph could be music nerds.   

I got some lovely plants and flowers from the kids...

...the kitty on the table!  

Joseph was still here when Oscar and Sonja came, after signing their new lease and bringing a load or two of things over to their new bigger place.  Char will help them with more trips over there today, but Camille is going to make the macarons for Evelyn's wedding, and I have to bring her to a dentist appointment too.  

I think I'll bake the cakes tomorrow, then freeze them...make the cupcakes Thursday, frost them Friday, make the frosting for the cakes and bring them frozen to the Airbnb and frost them on Saturday, the wedding is Sunday...so many details!  I have to make a huge list so I remember everything, as I'm buying all the food for the Airbnb weekend too.  

Ah well.  It doesn't help to get stressed about it, but I still have to prepare...it's challenging these days because of physical limits, I can't just push myself to go go go, I have to sit and rest in between or my poor leg won't bend, and when it finally does, it screams at me for a while before turning into a managable dull ache.  The "good" knee has a mind of it's own, and it's not a good one.  One little twinge in the wrong direction, and stabbing pain...I wonder if a chunk of something is broken off and in there...even in the car, a sharp turn, if I don't hold that knee, it yelps.  I don't mean to complain.  It's just my life right now, and it's still a wonderful one.  I have so much to be thankful for!  But I try to be real.  

The birds are singing, there are a few windows open, and that fresh spring morning smell is here, and I love it.  Yesterday we had kiddie pools on the deck, and popsicles, it was 82 degrees and sunny, it's wonderful.  You all have a nice day, and enjoy the weather...it's cloudy and cozy here, with rain in the forecast...

 

and on to the weekend!!!

 

Out the window, you can see two of the new chairs, and the old chairs...

...and the new plant from Trader Joe's.  Sonja bought it for me, for Mother's day, I hope I don't kill it.  It's a Flaming Katy.   

Trader Joe's is too much fun.  They have such good stuff, like the milk chocolate peanut butter cups, so good they should be illegal.  I ate a few of them then MADE the girls bring them to the camp fire they were going to last night.  out of the house with them, they are too good.  I like their seltzer, and the girls love their orange chicken.  The Scandinavian Swimmers are gummy candies made with natural colors, no dyes, and they are too good too.  I bought some dark chocolate for Joseph's birthday, my #5 child, he's turning 34 next week.  

This fine morning, I had swim class an hour earlier because of lifeguard unavailability, so I was out the door by 7:45.  Kathryn is heading here to pick me up to go to the library with her.  

Can I tell you about the yummy chicken drumsticks I made last night for dinner?  I marinated them in lime juice and some seasonings for two days, in a giant zip lock bag.  I would flip the bag when I thought of it).  I dried them off, rolled them in olive oil, sprinkled with cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, ginger, salt, pepper....then air fried them until they were so crispy!  12 minutes, then flipped them, and maybe another 15 minutes, not sure.  I temped them and they were more than done.  But oh so juicy.  I melted some butter, added honey, Frank's Red Hot sauce, and a splash of hot honey barbecue sauce, oh and some ginger, and dipped mine into that....had a nice salad with it.  Char took hers off the bone, and ate it in corn tortillas.

Ah well, exciting life, right?  Kathryn is going to pull into the driveway and I'm going to be sitting here blogging, still in my sweatpants from the pool...shh, it goes against everything in me to leave the house in sweatpants, but the pool is at the gym, for crying out loud!  So this morning, I wore my sweatpants.  

Okay, so you all have a wonderful day!

just the best life!

 Oh, yesterday was a treasure!  The pool, ahh, then home.  It was pouring out, as if we actually need more rain!  Kathryn took this of her back yard...just a little puddle.

Rosi dropped off some beautiful flowers for Mother's Day! 

Miss Charlotte Claire was just a little girl, like last week...and Suri was a shiny new pup without a gray beard.

Evelyn, Suzanne, Kathryn...just teenagers not long ago!

These are the chairs I bought from Marketplace yesterday, and that little table.  The lady was asking $45, what a deal!  Char and Cam went with me to pick them up.  The four chairs fit strategically into the bed of the truck, and the table in the back seat.  All was fine until we got onto route 690, and one of the chairs stood right up, ready to fly out of the truck...dang, I tried to change lanes to make it to the next exit, and almost hit a car I didn't see, because of that dang chair...by now my heart is racing a bit, but it was fiiiinnnne.  We were able to pull over safely into a Dunkin parking lot, and use the rachet straps to secure the chairs.  Then, on to Costco...where, as you know, the Register Shock hits you.  Some seltzer, a bag of frozen pierogies for Camille, some heavy cream, one four dollar pair of shorts for me (I tried them on when we got home, and I LOVE them!), and whatever else adds up to $150, oh dear.  

We went to Target the day before...these two are such a joy to me.  We went to the thrift store too, and I found two bathing suits, one was only $3.50, to wear for water aerobics.  The girls found some clothes too, and had a lot of fun.  

Anyway, yesterday I went with Sonja K. to pick up a sweet little Stokke baby bouncer she found on Marketplace.  The house was lovely, and the lady came out in a long pink dress, and apologized to Sonja for the wait, said she has five kids.  :). 

We decided to get a coffee because Starbucks had free flavors and coldfoam, I have never had coldfoam...so I tried the lavendar, and it was SO good!  We went into Marshalls, where I decided I can't buy anymore clothes for Sonja's baby, ha, it's too easy.  (I only got three things!).  I also got a few things for Miss Char's birthday, which is Sunday.  

When the girls got home from work, we headed to pick up those chairs, then Costco.  I can do a lot of things in a day when I rest that knee in between, and if someone else drives home.).   We got a hot dog (for me!), and pizza slices for them, and headed home in the rain...we watched The Walking Dead...:)

Three times this week I've gotten up at five.  If this is your normal wake up time, hugs to you.  But it's not mine.  I stayed up to about midnight last night, then when Sunny was whining to go out at five, ugh.  The night before it was Suri, the night before that Sunny.  Is the new thing?  Are they just old girls like me who wake up in the night to pee?  (Actually, I rarely do that...).  Anyway, I should just stay up, but no, my bed is too comfy, it calls me back, and I listen.  Then it takes a while to fall back to sleep...this morning, I woke up a little after eight, and it felt like I wasted so much of the day, ha.  

Ah well.  I did some laundry this morning, let the dogs in and out a few times, and that's about it.  I'm going with Kathryn for an appointment today, then to Walmart.  It's good to get out of the house, and to see the grandkids.  

I'm super happy with the new deck chairs.  They need a hosing off, maybe a spray of Dawn, but they're in really good condition.  The ones they're replacing are in sorry shape.  They were always the most comfy chairs on the deck, but they've old and are ripping.  (They were from the thrift store YEARS ago, were $4.99 each and were white frames with mauve seats, so I spray painted them totally black, which worked!  Until it didn't...they peeled just a tiny bit, the mauve started to show through just a bit, but mostly they ripped.).  The house we bought the chairs from:  just wow.  I told the girls it was probably a million dollars, and for here in central NY, that's quite a house.  Well, shh, but I did look it up when we got home, just typed in the address, and the Zillow listing came up...it just sold in December...

And, I was only one dollar off in my estimate!  Imagine that!  It's the kind of house that whispers...no, shouts:  if you lived here, you would have no trials at all...life would be wonderful!

That's a lie obviously, it's The Big Deception, as I call it.  "All is vanity, and striving after the wind", from Ecclesiastes...AI agrees: 

This is the truth, but then why is it that just having the chair sthey don't want makes me ridiculously happy?  I think because of what the chair represent?  Having the kids here and having lots of comfy places to sit?  I don't know.  Earthly things can be wonderful ha.  And shh, I did feel like granny from The Beverly Hillbilies, backing out of that driveway with the truck full of chairs.  Our windshield has that huge crack in it, it grew from the BB hole little Wulf accidentally shot, to a shatter and line snaking across... it does have some tape on it, which adds to the classiness.  

The homeowners were so lovely and classy, the lady of the house was petite with huge blue eyes, blonde hair, jewelry, and ever so kind and nice.  I messaged her a thank you later, and she wished me a happy mother's day, said my girls were lovely.  She also complimented on their names when we were there, a very sweet lady.  It wasn't her fault I felt big and clunky and poor, ha.  Not really, just a little.  

Anyway, I am happy with those chairs and I am happy with my life, I really am.  

You all have a nice day too!