Chronicles of Jackie: Year End Update

I know I say this every year but I can not believe that today is the last day of 2009. The year came and went so fast. I have finished another year of school. Just one and a half to go. I had a great year and received my first B+ which was good and bad. Bad because I am an over achiever and good because now the pressure is off a bit. I had a difficult semester with the construction going and was really happy when finals were over. I look forward to the Spring Sememster and hope I will enjoy school like I used too.

Our construction is almost finished, well the inside anyways. We just have the backsplash and two small tile floors to finish along with some minor carpentry and cabinet touchup. I was able to officially clean up the construction mess on Christmas Eve. My mom came and helped a lot.

Mom was not just with the clean up but also with a very sad event. Our puppy, finally named Molly, became ill and we took her to a vet to check on her. He tested her for Parvo and that was negative so they hydrated her, she had been vomiting, and sent her home with anti-biotics. She seemed to feel better and got a little energy back but the then the next night the vomiting started again. She became very ill and I kept her by my bed all night so I could help her if she got sick again. When I woke up the next morning she was so ill and lifeless. I held her thinking that I was going to keep her warm and comfortable until she died. My wonderful husband decided to take her to another vet to see if they could help her. They tested her blood and the sugar level was critically low - 23 when she should be 150 to 175. They started treatment and gave her an 80-85 percent chance of recovery. She started to rally and was going to be able to come home on Christmas Eve. They called that morning and said to pick her up after noon. The doctor did mention that she vomited again but was not too concerned. Scott and Josie went to pick her up and she had taken a turn for the worse. They knew something was wrong inside her little body and so they wanted to do a couple of tests and see if she needed surgery. She never got strong enough and by 3:00pm she went into cardiac arrest and on the 3rd time the staff was unable to revive her and she passed away. Scott happened to be at the vets waiting to see her and get an update when I called and told him the news. I always felt bad that we did not bring home our shetland collie when she had to be put down, to bury, so I asked him to bring her home and we buried her out under the trees. We only had her three weeks but Josie, Scott, and I really fell in love with her and it was an unhappy day. I was so glad to have such a great husband who did everything he could for our little "baby" and my mom with me. She really was a help and a loving support.

Other than that we had a great year and Christmas was wonderful because the grandchildren were here. It is difficult to be sad when you have such fun grandchildren to spend Christmas with. Shauntel took pity on us old folks and did not wake us up until 7:30am. We were grateful for that. The kids walked downstairs to an undecorated Christmas tree and saw all there presents and were so excited. They didn't even care that we lacked decorations this year. It was difficult to decorate because our house did not get put back together until Christmas Eve. Without my beloved grandchilden and children, Christmas would have been pretty boring and quiet.

We also had Scott's family over for breakfast and that was also fun. They brought presents from the grandparents in Japan and so that was exciting for all to see what they sent. Then we went to my mom's for traditional Christmas Day chicken noodle soup and to visit with the family. It was a nice day after all.