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All My Ex’s Live in Texas

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

When I think of the word “ex”, I think about something that I truly loved and knew I couldn’t live without all the time I had it. We just returned from a two week trip back to our grand state of Texas to visit family and  friends. While there, I also attended a Women’s Conference which encouraged me to quit using “ex”cuses for not moving forward and not allowing God to use me where He has planted me.

On our two day drive across the desert, our conversation alway turned to which of our favorite restaurants we will visit while driving around Dallas. Which stores, that I do not have here in Arizona, do I want to spend our kids inheritance, while in Texas. How many Whataburgers can I consume in a 2 week period? How many times will I get to sit and listen to hymns sung by a choir (yes, I know this gives my age away) before coming back to services which end with drums, guitars and electric pianos?

Yes, I do admit that I do have one ex-husband which is still in Texas. Since he has never married in the 23 years since our divorce, I gather that I either ruined him on the idea of marriage or he figured that he would never be so blessed a second time; I like to think that is the reason, rather than the first. Not sure he would agree, but on to the story.

As we left Texas in the rear view mirror on Wednesday morning, we drove with anticipation as we neared the New Mexico border, getting us closer to home. We had had such a great time with our families and dinners with friends. Our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant had been crossed off our list twice in a 5 day period. We feasted on Texas barbecue, Whataburger more times than I care to tell you (yes, even had one for breakfast one day) and even talked Randy into driving me to my favorite Steinmart.

We sat in church Sunday morning and relished singing hymns that we both knew. After church we stayed around talking to old friends and then stayed just a little longer to listen to the music again as the second service started. It blessed my heart to hear one of my favorite songs being sung last Sunday, Every Praise is Due Our God; yes, every praise is certainly due our God. He had given us a great trip, watched over us as we drove, with a dog   in our lap, going and coming for the 1000 mile trip.

Randy was the chauffeur on the trip back, since I guess all that Mexican food, Whataburger and barbecue gave me bronchitis. I slept and had lots of time to think. Randy enjoyed the peace and quiet as each time I did try to talk, I would start coughing, so he told me to just be quiet and not try to talk. He assured me that he was just trying to take care of me. Yeah, heard that one before. I was able to muster under my breath that I had left one ex in Texas, I might be leaving another one there very quickly.

So, as we approached Phoenix, I really began to think about some of the things I had heard on the CD I had bought from Debbie Steward at the Women’s Conference last Saturday. One of the topics she had talked about was that we are always consumed with “are we in our sweet spot” rather than our “sent spot”. As I listened to her talking about where God sends us sometimes, as being our “sent spot” and how are we allowing Him to use us, it dawned on me that this is where He has me now. In a new community with new friends, a new church, new places to adventure. And what a great thing. How blessed Randy and I have been to be able to live in 3 different states and capture the new adventures which beckon us in each new “sent spot”. As soon as we arrived home, we had phone calls, a neighbor came by and several texted to check on us to see if we had made it home ok.

That is far more valuable than living by what we have always considered the best Mexican Food this side of the border. Will I ever return to Corpus to eat at Kikos, probably not, but I have the memories and the constant challenge of trying to duplicate their enchiladas ( I think I almost have it). Will I ever be able to live by any of the other grandchildren? I have no clue. But what I do know is that wherever I am, I want to finish strong. I want to be used by God to fulfill His purpose for leaving me here. Dallas will always have such a special place in our hearts, but even more special is the fact that we know that He has brought us to the place where He has placed us and we know that He is a great God….not only is He faithful, but we have a Whataburger 20 minutes away and am having a ball trying out all the different Mexican food places here. One of our favorite houses which we hated leaving in Texas has now become an “ex” as we have a new favorite house, here.

We continue to learn that “ex”citement can come with a new found joy of knowing that we are in the place for this season of our lives. We can now add precious friends who we already love and care about to our grateful lists of blessings.  Yes, we have lots of ex’s in Texas and California, but we look forward to the days ahead when we have a whole new lists of special memories and places which move us forward to a greater faith and a greater desire to live our lives for His purpose!

 

 

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Different View of Valentines

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Isn’t it great to read the different ways people celebrate Valentines? I truly enjoy scrolling through FB and seeing the restaurants where couples are celebrating the special day. The flowers that grace the different tables, as  we imagine the smell of the roses that sweethearts have brought home.  Boxes full of candy that are ripped apart as we promise ourselves “only 1 piece a day” that are emptied 3 days later. The cards that adorn the mantles of our homes are simple but meaningful ways to express the words that somehow are so hard to say sometimes, but then, finding just the perfect card, we hope that our loved ones are able to read between the poetic lines of love that talented writers are best able to express. Yes, all these are great way to celebrate a day set apart for showing special people just what we feel about them.

This year, having lived in a new city and new community less than a year, I began to think about all my past Valentines days. I remembered the years which I wondered about what I might receive. Would I have some of the beautiful roses, or a box of candy? Would I be able to sit and read a card over and over, all the while thinking about the person who thought enough about me to actually send a card. As I thought back, it dawned on me that most of the past years, I made it all about me.  Yes, of course, I bought for kids or grandkids and my sweet husband, but in the back of my mind, all the time I was picking out little tokens of love for family, my mind seemed to drift towards wondering what I might receive.

This season of life allows us to have time to sit and ponder. Ponder things which might need to change; think about ways in which we can enrich the lives of others before thinking just about ourselves. So I began. I was going to do something totally different this year. Making up pretty little bags with a bar of lavender soap, a tea bag and a little Godiva chocolate, I made up 20 little bags and tied them up with a red ribbon. When I ran out of the chocolate, I baked a few red velvet tea cakes and substituted those for the candy.

Yesterday morning, handing out the Valentine bags to women around our table at Bible Study, you would have thought I was handing them a $100.  The smiles that came to their faces was such a delight to me that I was the one who felt so blessed. In the afternoon, I came home and jumped on the golf cart. Going around in our neighborhood, I ended up delivering about 10 more little Valentine goodie bags. When I arrived home, Randy met me at the door and said, “well, welcome home, I was beginning to wonder if you had fallen and couldn’t get up.” After I assured him that even if I had fallen, I was NOT OLD and I COULD GET UP! I had been gone over 2 hours and had the pleasure of visiting with 9 ladies. Everyone had invited me in and two of the women and I had amazing conversations regarding what the Lord had been doing in their lives. It was one of the best afternoons I had spent in a long time. Just living in a place where you are invited in and people take the time to sit and visit was such a huge blessing to me.

It is 75 degrees again today. The sun is shinning and we ended up riding up to the club house and had lunch with some friends around the pool. A few ladies stopped me and thanked me again for the wonderful little surprise that was dropped off to them yesterday.

It has been about 24 hours since my little Valentine deliveries and I am still on a high from just the sweet conversations, the smiles that reflected from their faces and it has shown me that Valentines can be a whole lot more than just a box of candy or a dozen roses.

It is a time of reflections of how blessed we are when our health allows us to go jump on a golf cart and ride around dropping off little unexpected gifts. It is a day of realizing that we can get out of what we might be expecting from others and begin too reach out and be a blessing to those who might have just lost a spouse, or is new to a neighborhood. It is a day to allow others to see us for who we are…people with struggles, maybe just like theirs. Next Valentines cannot come fast enough. My desire is that I will not wait until Feb to reach out to others, but to look for the opportunities as they come to be a encourager, a light and point others to the Lord praying that “they may know Him by our love.”.

 

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Sausage,Spinach & Sweet Potato Soup

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IT is a beautiful day here in Arizona and we are preparing to leave for a party where there will be a tremendous amount of food to consume during Super Bowl. To allow our clothes to be a little loose so we won’t have to unzip our pants during the party, we ate soup for several dinners this week, hoping to loose a pound of two. This was one of the soups which I had found in a Taste of Home magazine and decided to try. I can testify that this recipe will stay in my stack of “favs” for a long time. Not only was it simple, but it was delicious.

Because we live in an area which does not have an immediately supply of black eye peas, I substituted Am’s Organic Lentil Vegetable soup. Before you get excited and think, “oh my gosh, she has finally done it, she has realized that if she wants to live past 70, she had better get with the program and go organic and quit having chocolate cream pie for dessert every night.” No, it was just the only bean soup I could find on the shelf that wasn’t black beans, pork and bean or pinto bean soup. So don’t get excited and start sending me packets of organic veggies to plant. Just not going to happen besides, I already have my chocolate cream pie piled high with whipped cream ready for dessert tonight.

Ingredients:

2 links of sweet Italian sausage, taken out of casing

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1/2 medium green or red bell pepper, seeded

1 small can of tomato sauce or the regular size can of diced tomatoes

1 can (15 1/2 oz) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained (( substitute Amy’s and did not drain them, but used the whole can, juice and all)

2 cans reduced sodium beef broth (here once again, I used 2 beef bouillon cubes and 2 cups water because I didn’t have any beef broth in the house)

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1/2 package cheese tortellini

Garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and a about 1 teas Italian Seasoning to taste.

Add the Italian sausage to a big Dutch oven which has been sprayed with Pam and crumble and cook until no longer pink. Add the rest of the ingredients except the spinach. I added more water while soup was cooking to give it more broth. Cook for about 2-3 hours over low heat until sweet potato and other vegetables are tender. The last 30 minutes of cooking, add the chopped spinach and the cheese tortellini . Cover and cook until spinach is wilted and tender and tortellini is done ( it floats when it is done)

Serve with hot crust Italian garlic bread.

appetizers · Daily Thoughts · Dips · Uncategorized

Trudicita Makes Salsa

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Going to the local farmer’s market on Monday got me in the mood to be daring and make my own salsa. For some reason, that is one of those things that I always meant to do,but never did. I guess because there was always a plethora of Tex-Mex restaurants close by, I opted for spending time baking. But Monday afternoon, I looked up different recipes and ended up doing a version of a recipe the Pioneer Woman posted.

We fried up some homemake flour tortillas and ate our weight in salsa. So today, I used up the remaining cilantro, jalapeño and tomillo and made more. Am thinking of giving up my Hey Ya’ll Paula Deen apron for a “Salsa Lot of Garlic” one. Had such fun making it and got Randy outside exploring how to use his new smoker he got for Christmas. We had ribs and salsa for dinner.

Ingredients

1 Tomatillo, cut in chunks

3 cloves of garlic

1 small yellow onion

1 bunch of cilantro

1/2 small jalapeño, cut and seeded

1 regular can of Rotel Tomatoes with green chiles, juice and all

2 fresh tomatoes

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1/8 cup of lime juice

1 teas of sugar

Cut all veggies into chunks. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until mixture is the consistency you want. I pulsed mine about 4-5 times. Season to your liking according to how hot you want it and how salty you want it.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Bus Rides, Bucket Lists & Bougainvilleas

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Well, we ate our way through Puerta Vallarta and discovered that if we lived there we would loose weight. (I know, I say that about every place I visit). Because the shrimp and lobster were so delicious and it was easier to walk than try to run to catch a taxi, we actually lost a couple of pounds on vacation. The bus rides were so rough, due to the cobblestone streets, it seemed that it shook some cellulite off my rear end. Not enough to wear a bathing suit in daylight, but enough to allow me to not come home and need to buy elastic waisted pants. So it truly was a win-win vacation. Randy loved it because the bus ride cost 15 pesos for both of us to ride which translates to less than a dollar per couple. I loved it because I bought cute little capris for $15/pair and painted blouses and silver jewelry.

It has always been on my bucket list to travel to foreign countries and get immersed in the community around me. To experience life as a local.  We discovered that there was nothing like riding the buses in Mexico to help you feel like a local. Sometimes we were the only Americans on the bus. Sometimes, we rode an hour longer than needed because we couldn’t read where the bus was headed and yet, it was delightful to sit and watch the people of the community as they got on and off the bus. I could sit there on the rusted metal seat of the bus and try to imagine what their lives were like. Were they headed home from work or school? Were they going home to a family or to an apartment alone? We encountered several locals who had moved there from the states and for various reasons decided to stay in Mexico and never left. We met Americans who had gone down to visit and decided that they liked it so much, they now lived there part of each year. As we would arrive back at our hotel, the bright color of pink bougainvillea welcomed us into a world which still separated us from the majority of folks  who worked and lived there. As we shopped in the markets, or ate in restaurants, the mood was always the same. The precious people we talked with were happy and content. They laughed with us about a wall being built and told us we had better hurry and get home or we might not be able to get over the newly built wall. One waiter/owner of a small little eatery, kidded us and told us that he had moved from Southern California because there were too many Mexicans there. (He himself was a Mexican) By the time the week was over, we felt that we had changed some of our perspectives. Yes, we are such a blessed Nation of freedoms and choices. Most of us have wonderful places to live and plenty of food on the table. We have cars to drive and too many clothes in our closets. Yet, there was a feeling around us as we walked the streets of PV that taught me that there are millions out there who are truly content with what they have. The people we encountered had a smile for us as we boarded the bus. Some of the men would get up, if there were no seats left and give them to Randy and I.  One of the young men on the bus actually helped Randy off the bus and then got back on himself. It was a joy to eat at restaurants off the beaten path. The food was truly amazing and we experienced the best flour tortillas (bar none) we had ever had. The shrimp and guacamole became a daily “must”. If you are ever in PV, you have to go to El Patron. When we talked to the owner, we were asking why his prices were so reasonable. He told us that he likes to keep it that way so the locals can afford to eat there. It was that type of attitude which seemed to flow throughout the city.

The young were waiting tables and working hard. They were so thankful to have a job. We came away feeling like they were the ones who blessed us. Their attitudes were gracious, yet gentle. They didn’t ask anything in return. Both of our hearts were warmed by not only the Tropical Sun, but by the outpouring of friendliness and gratitude of a listening ear or smile which they received most graciously!

The trip was so wonderful and we are so excited we were able to experience one of our bucket list wishes.

 

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Mexico Myths

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Here we are in beautiful Puerta Vallarta with some dear friends enjoying the gift of friendship, great food, gorgeous sunrises, sunsets and beaches!  We have discovered that all the ideas we had of what this would be like was totally unfounded. Because all I had experienced had been border towns where we use to drive for Mexican vanilla, huge bags of sugar and brightly painted pottery, my preconceived mental pictures of what we would find here was not only limited but very wrong.  As we flew over the town waiting to land, it became apparent that it certainly would look different from Juarez or Reynosa.  The mountains which stood so majestically around the beached town were so tall and rugged that it just amazed me how diverse the landscape truly was.  We landed and immediately was taken back at how friendly the airport staff beckoned to our every need.   A young man who was missing one hand insisted on helping us and saw us through customs, even helping me fill out a form when I didn’t grasp the questions being ask.   From day one we have encountered people from different social backgrounds, different cultures, different religions, and different lifestyles, convene together in restaurants, around the pool and places we have gone to explore.

My girlfriends and I went to ceramics to paint some plates which we will be so proud to take home and Show off our “talent” of Mexican painted  brightly colored flowers and fruit. As we were painting, a same sex couple came up to the young man and his wife who run the painting hut.   I saw them give money to the couple and told them to put the money aside for their two children for college or weddings.  The young mom cried and thanked the men.  When we heard them talking, the story unfolded.  The men had been coming here for several years and had met Irwin and Graciela the first year they visited.  From that point on the couple had saved all their change and had converted the change into dollars, which is the money they had given them  while we were there.  I’m ashamed of what my thoughts were when I had watched the same sex couple walk up that day. My mind had immediately began to focus on their lifestyle, which is very differently from what I feel God had intended for us! But as I watched this kindness transpire, I realized that even though our lifestyles and opinions are very different, their acts of kindness had shown me something.  I need to start looking a little more closely at people and listen. Listen to their stories. Listen to their dreams or needs. I know I can’t give every person I meet money or pay for their children’s education, but I can listen to them, and treat them for what they are…children of our great Creator, who made each of us unique in His image .  That they are not just people helping us at airports or carrying our luggage to the rooms or driving the buses which take us to markets. They are individuals who are loved by God and who deserve to hear how much God loves them.  It is my prayer that my eyes will be open to seeing the people who are truly put in my path and to not only open my ears to listen to them, but to open my heart to how God may use me to witness to someone, anyplace, anytime.

That is my dream!

 

 

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Baking, Math & Grandkids

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It finally happened. Last night, I was sitting there watching Wheel of Fortune (oops, I mean Extra,makes me sound much more hip)) when my phone rings and my grandson is FaceTiming me. I answered and out popped out of his mouth, “Nana, can you help me, I have a problem” Well, you can imagine the feeling that set in. It was finally happening; grandchildren, running to their Nana for problem solving. Before he could actually state what he needed, I had visions of questions that I thought might pop out of his precious little mouth, such as, “Nana, there is a pretty girl in my class who I want to impress, what should I do, or Nana, my parents don’t understand me, can I talk to you,” well, I was preparing to pour out my heart to him when I hear, “nana, what is 1/2 of 3/4 cup”. It wasn’t…

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Words & Wonder

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Saturday morning I went to a brunch where friends from our Bible Study gathered together around the dining table to share some great food and to share the word that the Lord had given to us for 2017.

About 4 years ago a dear friend use to tell us about having a “word” that she had ask the Lord. This “word” would seem to show up in devotions, in sermons, scripture or songs and she always told us that it was a word which the Lord would use to teach her, more of Him. So those of us who took Bible study from her began to ask the Lord if He would give us a word. I remember the first year that I began to ask for a “word.”  I wish I could tell you that I prayed with a believing heart that He would lay something upon my heart but as I prayed I felt myself wondering if truly, I would hear from Him. Each year, always in different ways, He would reveal a word to me that helped me focus on a certain aspect of Bible study which invariably  led me into a deeper knowledge of God and what He desired from me. The first year my word was serve, I began to write down scriptures which I would come across that centered on “serving”. As that year progressed, I found myself serving in ways which I had never thought about.

The following year, being thrown into a year of disruption of our lives and circumstances, the Lord clearly gave me the word, “restore” as I struggled with finding a new purpose, all the while knowing that He still loved me and wanted me to know that just because my circumstances had changed, His will for me had not ,and that was to continue serving Him, just maybe in different ways.

Well, in November of 2016, I began to pray, asking God to reveal to me what word He wanted me to have for 2017. As weeks passed, I wondered if He was ever going to give me the “word”.  On December 20th, I woke up at 5:30 a.m and the word, “tenacity” was just what I woke up saying. I wondered what in the world it meant. It was a word which I do not ever remember saying, much less using it in a sentence. I fell back asleep and woke up at 7 a.m and there it was again, “tenacity”. I thought about it all day and told Randy that “I think the Lord has shown me what my word for 2017 is going to be.” A couple of days later, there in my daily devotion, the word “tenacity” jumped off the page at me. It was then that I realized that yes, the Lord had truly spoken what word my focus would be for the year.  Looking up the definition, i realized that it means to “persevere” and to remain faithful through any circumstance.

As the ladies gathered around the table, last Saturday,we began to share just how God had revealed their words. This was new to each of them, but as we began to share the words which the Lord had given to us, we begin to realize how intimately God wants to be involved with our lives. Most of us were in circumstances which we would not have chosen, but God, in His infinite love and mercy had given each of us a word which shows His love and faithfulness to us. As we listened to the stories that morning,  some of the words which we revealed the Lord had given to us were; hope, steadfast, trust, rest, and calm. It was such a blessed morning to hear how God had been working in each of their lives and how they had been given their word for 2017. As I came home, I began to think about what had just transpired. Women who had never before ask the Lord for a word, had just shared how God had spoken to them, all in a different way, but each one, feeling so blessed by God that He loved them and answered their prayers of receiving what they had ask, a word that would be encouraging and cause them to remember how much He loves each one.

Why do we continue to wonder if God still speaks, when it tells us in His Word, that He has given us His Holy Spirit to speak truth to us.

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

Psalm 91:15 “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver hi and honor him.”

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do to know.”

 

 

 

Chocolate · Desserts · Uncategorized

Cappuccino Crinkles

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img_3919Looking for a new cookie recipe, I came across this one in Better Homes & Gardens Bars & Cookies recipe book.  Since I didn’t have any yogurt, I substituted sour cream. What I can tell you is that Randy and I ate so many of them as they cane out of the oven that I am having to make another batch tomorrow for the event which I was suppose to take them to. They are a great cookie and you will not be disappointed in the coffee-chocolate flavor.

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tables instant coffee crystals

1 teas baking soda

1 teas ground cinnamon

2 egg whites

1/3 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (I used sour cream)

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teas vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

In a large bowl, beat butter with mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa, coffee crystals baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until combined.

Beat in egg whites and yogurt and vanilla extract. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. If it gets to thick, use wooden spoon to mix in any remaining flour.

Place the granulated sugar in a bowl. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons (I used the middle size cookie scoop)  into sugar and roll into balls. Roll again in sugar. Place balls 2″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Makes about32 cookies.

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Petsmart Prince

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Last week we were so excited about going to California to visit friends and spend NYE celebrating with folks who are so special to us. Before we left, we began to think about what we would do with Oliver. If you remember reading when we first got him, you will know that I have never been a dog person, but was willing to become a dog owner for Randy. The sad part was that when we bought Oliver, Randy was in no shape to care for himself, much less a dog. So the responsibility fell to me. It wasn’t that I minded, as Oliver storle my heart from the beginning. But as he grew, well, you know the story, when they aren’t the adorable little fur balls they were when they are puppies, I found myself lacking as much patience with him upon occasion. So as months went by, I began to think about the good ole days, the BO days, (before Oliver) when we didn’t have to take walks at 10 p.m. Or have to wake up earlier than I wanted because Oliver wanted to go out. Then there were the times, when he would run out the front door and I would have to go chase him. And that sight will probably be forever etched in our neighbors mind when I am running in my robe, yelling “Oliver, come back and I’ll give you a treat”…I know…yes we need to have him trained, we wil be doing that as soon as we can. But back to the story. We decided that Oliver would need to be boarded as our daughter was going to be out of town also. The morning that we were to leave for the airport, I had Randy to call PetsMart to see what all we were suppose to take for Oliver and he informed me that Oliver could have his bed, a blanket and his toys. So I gathered up the bed, both blankness (he has one that he sleeps with and one that he lays on during the day, so of course he needed both of them) and all of his toys. I included in his little diaper bag a list of his schedule, which in my mind, I truly thought they would appreciate knowing when he usually eats and so on and so forth. I guess this is a good time to mention that I just couldn’t go with Randy to take Oliver, as I was crying too hard as he left. It was breaking my heart that I couldn’t tell oliver that we would be back, that we were not deserting him forever. On a day back in November when I was scrubbing the carpet after a little accident, you had told me that I would cry because oliver was leaving for his first boarding stay, I would have told you that you were crazy. It never dawned on me that I would be so worried about him. And Yes, I called every day to check on him. So I guess I am more of a dog person than I ever thought I would be.

We get to the airport to fly home and find that our plane wil be late getting home so Jodi offered to go get Oliver and let  him play at her house for a while and then she would bring him home so he would be here when we got in. That was great as I was just so worried about him having to spend another night in that awful place that would not even feed Oliver his morning toast with butter, cut up in little bites. So we get home and there Oliver greets us and life is good. Jodi had followed my directions that I had given her from the airport, to leave the living room lights on for him, to turn on the TV so he would have noise, be sure he had food and water and that his toys were all out of the bag and that she walk him before leaving him here all alone for an hour before we were due home.

 

The next morning Jodi calls me and tells me that she and the lady at PetsMart had quite a conversation about me. The lady told her that Oliver was suppose to only bring one toy, one blanket and his bed and that she had had to log  in 13 items for the little Prince.  Jodi informed her that I had done the same thing to her when she went to camp; at least they didn’t have to endure hourly phone calls like the camp counselors did back then.

Apparently I might need to find a different boarder next time we need to leave Oliver as my reputation as a “hovering mom” has even found it’s way clear out to Arizona.

So our little PetsMart Prince is back home and once again, enjoying his morning buttered toast and treats when he escapes out the front door. If he could talk, I know he would be telling me not to take him back to that awful place that just treated him like a regular dog.