Upcoming Classes

Here’s my class schedule at the Scrapbook Shop through the end of June:

Wednesday, May 25th at 6 pm – Mini Albums. This is the first of a two-part series that shows you how to create five types of mini albums. In this class, we\’ll make hot dog, puzzle accordion, and explosion albums.

Saturday, June 4th at 1 pm – Mini Albums #2. This is the second of the two-part mini albums series. Albums to be made in this class are the paper bag book and a tag book.

Monday, June 6th at 6 pm – Paper Techniques. I\’ll teach you three paper techniques to add to your layout idea book: serendipity squares, tearing, and diamond folding.

Thursday, June 16th at 6 pm – Organization. Need some ideas on organizing your space? Would you like some tips and techiniques to help you be more organized at your next crop? Bring in your organizational questions, and I\’ll help uncover the answers. Plus, I\’ll teach you a planning technique to help you be more productive.

Monday, June 20th at 6 pm – Introduction to Scrapbooking. Interested in scrapbooking, but don’t know where to start? Curious about a specific tool? Come to this class where I cover the basics of scrapbooking and we work together to create a layout from pictures you bring to class.

Catching Up

It’s been a bit since I posted here. I hope no one worried. Although we had more ups and downs with Macalester, this past week has been a good one for her. We’ve now gone one week without vomiting. That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet. It just means her body is starting to heal.

She’s up to almost a cup of wet dog food over a 24 hour period. She’s no longer losing weight, and actually looks like she might be gaining a bit back. But that’s hard to tell because she hasn’t had a haircut in two months. It could all just be hair, and goodness knows, Macalester has a thick coat.

The big challenge for me right now is keeping her from gulping her meals and ingesting a bunch of air. Because sometime between 30 minutes to 3 hours after eating, she has a tremendously huge burp that looks really painful to her. It could be a near vomit, but I’ve noted the times she’s eaten more slowly have resulted in no burping. Just how do you get a dog to eat slowly?

Sarah lost another tooth, so now she’s officially lost six teeth. Two more to go, and then she’ll have lost all the teeth she had before we got her.

Rachel gets more and more capable each day. She will be three in less than a month, and I’m noticing a change in her behavior. There’s a new air of maturity and a desire to please Mama that hasn’t been there before. Sarah had a similar thing happen as she headed to three as well. The terrible twos are almost over. Now we’ll have a year of relative peace before all Hell breaks loose at four.

John is going to be a non-existant entity this week — it’s Holy Week. After 16 years, I’ve gotten use to it.

I have a new(er) car — a 2004 Toyota Camry. I love it. It was a rental car. I’ve purchased rental cars before and had good luck. The Bonneville is still around until I can get new plates for it (the “M MAMA” plates will be transferred to the new car) and take it to Courage Center as a donation. It would make a good car for a teenager — they shouldn’t have a problem reselling it.

That’s it for now from the Walls!

Gr8 Start Sample Layouts

I\’m posting a couple layouts for my Gr8 (Great) Start layout class on May 21st. The theme is “Summer” — my students will make eight single page layouts. They will also come away with the recipe for making the second page, if their pictures need a two-page layout.

Update: Images are no longer available. Carol Anne 8/28/2019

Another Update

Macalester’s health seems to be improving. But I’ve learned that as soon as I do that, she gets sick again. So, I’m waiting to hear those familiar barfing noises from the kitchen.

So you might ask, how is the rest of the family doing? Well, everyone is edgy. Rachel won’t sleep, Sarah is bossier than usual, and John is getting tired of playing head cook. I’m barely eating and not sleeping well. But we get through our days.

I received a package in the mail today from my secret pal on a stamping list I belong to. That was a big lift — lots of coffee, chocolate, and biscotti. Thanks to Sandy L. for putting a smile on my face!

We’re going to live dangerously and head out to the Mall of America tonight. It’s been about 6 weeks since we were there last. That’s a long time! I’m just wondering how wild the kids will be!!

Another Set of Setbacks

About an hour after I sent the update Thursday night about how well Macalester was doing, she barfed. After consulting with the vet, it was back to water only overnight, a tablespoon of food on Friday.

She did OK, then threw up at 4:30 Saturday morning. But it seemed different — like her usual pre-illness barfs. So we kept feeding her a tablespoon of food every 6 hours. She was looking good, feeling good. Acting more like Macalester. I wrote to someone that she seemed to be improving just a couple hours ago.

Then this evening, she barfed an hour after eating. She really got worked up at suppertime, and I have to wonder if her pancreas got overstimulated. It’s something to ask the vet. She is also loose bowelled, which makes me wonder as well.

I’ll bet its back to pure water and stuffing meds down her throat. Darn. It was alot easier to give her her medicine hidden inside a bit of dog food.

I feel like I’m jinxing Macalester. Every time I say things are going better, we have a set back. Maybe I just need to be doom and gloom 100%. Sigh.

Improvement

But as of right now, Macalester has been barf-free 62 hours. At hour 35, I fed her a teaspoon of food. When that stayed down, Macalester graduated to a tablespoon of food, three times a day. So far, so good.

I did have a couple of scares last night. At bedtime, I came upstairs to find a huge wet spot by Macalester’s head. I thought she had barfed, but there wasn’t any food in it. Upon further investigation, all the bedding Macalester was sleeping on was dry, her beard was clean, and she didn’t have barf-breath. It was pee. And it was Sydney’s — probably from earlier in the evening when she was left upstairs on her own and she was whining and crying.

I also discovered that Sydney and John both have snores that sound like someone, or some dog, is getting sick. I’d sit straight up in bed and feel for Macalester. Who was sleeping soundly, of course. I think I got about 45 minutes of continuous sleep last night — between John and Sydney’s R.E.M cycles.

Macalester Update

Macalester came home Saturday with a new diet, special instructions, and a warning from the vet that she has not recovered — she is home to recuperate.

Things have been rocky, as Macalester hasn’t been able to keep down the little bits of food we give her. She’s now back on a water only diet until Monday morning. The vet warned us that this would not be a smooth road, and he was right. I’ve called him, at his insistence, several times already. He has been very reassuring to this very anxious and upset dog-mom.

While it’s hard to hear her constantly rumbling stomach, the good news is that she is alert, drinking water, and really wishing that we would feed her anyway. She is also pushing Sydney around and drinking all of Sydney’s water first. So while things are not going as well as hoped, she seems to have retained her spirit.

Sarah has been singing to her, which really perks Macalester up. I never thought she cared much for music. But she seems to enjoy Sarah’s rendition of “A, You’re a Adorable”.

Macalester is Ill

It’s been a rough week. Sarah and I were sick most of last week, and I noticed that Sydney and Macalester were ill as well. Sydney seemed to bounce back, but by this past Tuesday night, it was clear to me Macalester was not well and needed professional help.

She’s been at the vet since then. Diagnosis: pancreatitis. Cause: Eating some handcreme I had in my bedroom that Rachel very conveniently fed to her, when her father wasn’t paying attention.

It looked for a while like Macalester might not make it. She’s been without food since Tuesday night, on some heavy drugs and IVs. The goal is to calm down her pancreas and small intestine. So far, she has not vomited and has been able to keep water down. Her very frightening liver profiles are dropping closer to a normal range. She remains alert and responsive.

The big test is Friday morning, when the vet will feed her a little bit of food. Hopefully that will stay down. If not, she has to go back to 48 hours of fasting and start all over again.

If she keeps the food down, she can come home on Saturday. And as you can imagine, we are hoping she will be coming home Saturday. The vet is very hopeful, as she has responded well to all the therapies so far.

I miss having Macalester around very, very much. It’s been hard to be without her. I wonder what she is thinking. Sydney jumps about two feet everytime you mention Macalester’s name. Sydney is more hyper than usual — which is how she’s dealing with missing her doggie sister.

I want Macalester home. Hang in there, Puppy, and DON’T BARF!!