Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Goodbye Kitty...

you will be greatly missed! We had to say goodbye to another best friend. Kitty was the most gentle, loving cat I've ever met. He slept with me every night. He went on walks with us when we took Winston and recently Bentley.  He would always be there to greet us when we came back from a run..Hell, he'd go with you if you let him! He was a great mouser, even caught one yesterday.

But recently he had a difficult time with his mouth full of cancer. Paul and I are both glad we made the decision in February NOT to put him through surgery and his vet agreed. He had a few really good months left. I'm heartbroken for what he went through, bless his heart! But I'm at peace with letting him go. If we had kept him any longer, it would have been selfish of us to put him through the kind of life he would have had just to keep him around for a week or two longer. He had a wonderful 14 years with us!

Rest in peace my friend. Give Winston a BIG kiss from me!!





Still thinks he fits in the basket
and still!




Sleeping on Grandma Dory's lap

Greeting dad as he's back from a run..with geese?
Coming along on a walk with Bentley


You will be dearly missed my loving friend! XOXO

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Happy Birthday To Me!

 June was a crazy-amazing month! Having my birthday in it made it all the more so. AND..being my 60th was the icing on the cake!! I have lots to post about this month (June) but this blog post is going to be all about my birthday.

Back in April, Paul asked me what I'd like for my birthday and I told him since it was my 60th, I'd like a little party. The only thing was, I didn't want it at my house because I didn't want to clean up. Well, little did I know that he, Lydia (her idea), Bev, Jenn and my kids had been planning a surprise party for months! He told me they had been planning it since we were all still in heavy coats! I'm not going to post ALL the photos because there's at least 100 but I am going to post quite a few.

About a month ago, I got an invitation to my boss's retirement party (yes, this is relevant). He retired last year from the fire department. Here's the invitation:

They even planned it a week before my actual birthday! 

Paul and I decided to go 😊. I walk with Lydia every morning and she mentioned she was bringing a broccoli and bacon salad to Lee's party. I asked Bev if she was bringing anything and sure enough, she was bringing deviled eggs. I told Paul we need to bring something so we made a buffalo cheese dip. I even bought Lee a present!! I got him some craft beer glasses from Amazon. There was no retirement party! It was my surprise party!! Lydia even had them mailed from where Lee lives, so when I looked at the postmark, I would see it was from Lee's wife. I never looked. It never dawned on me that it wasn't legit!

So, here's some pictures of my wonderful surprise party. Everything was perfect! Beautiful decorations and the cake and cupcakes by Brandy Dulces Y Suenos were gorgeous and delicious!

I was going to post here the video Jenn took while I was walking in the door but the file is too big. 

As I walked in I saw Jenn standing there with her phone and Sue was next to her. That's when it dawned on me. Then from around the corner, Logan came and I lost it! They came from Virginia Beach for my surprise party!! I still cry thinking about it and I cried all weekend.

Ugly cry face LOL
After the initial shock I went around hugging everyone and crying...







It was a wonderful party!





Emmy decorated ALL these popcorn boxes! 
These two drove all the way from Virginia Beach with Logan and Emmy! 😍



Emmy! 


Me and my buddy Bev
Doesn't Linda look happy?



My beautiful family!!

That night after the party, Eric, Jessie, Logan and Emmy, along with Jenn, Dan and Steve came over. Everyone stayed the night but Steve since he lives so close. We hung out in the backyard and I opened my cards and gifts from everyone.

I got some really funny cards!
The kids all bought me a mother's ring...it's beautiful and I'll treasure it always...



The next Sunday on the 11th was my official birthday. I was wished a Happy Birthday by Google (which I thought was waaaaay cool!).


Jenn and Dan came over to celebrate the night before and spend my real day with me. It was funny because we were all drinking and staying up late. Little did I know they were all waiting for me to go to bed so they could decorate the front yard with 60 pinwheels! I guess Jenn and Bev (Bev had them at her house) were texting back and forth and Jenn kept saying, no-she's still up! I didn't get to bed until after 1 am. How was I supposed to know?
I did get a big kick out of it the next morning when I woke up. I felt so damn special and loved!



And then to top it off..Brandy made my favorite cake-carrot cake!

So much goodness in it, it weighed a ton! 

Needless to say, I cried for days just realizing how loved and blessed I am! So many friends and family came to my party to celebrate me!!