Chilly Becker 1/25/01-12/26/08

On the day after Christmas, we had to put our 7 year old samoyed, Chilly, to sleep. He had developed a lung condition over the past few months that accelerated 2 weeks before Christmas. We consulted with a surgeon in Illinois, but the surgery was unbelievably expensive and there was no guarantee the surgery would be successful. He was starting to struggle to breathe, so on Dec. 26th we made the agonizing decision to let him go.
Chilly was such a sweet, loving boy. Always happy to see anyone, ready to give kisses. Barking at the moon was a favorite past time, along with playing in the snow, stealing socks, greeting people on our walks, licking feet, and sleeping beside Samantha's bed at night. He was a big, beautiful samoyed whose parents were award winning show dogs. He got us instead of awards glory, but I don't think he minded. :) Chilly and his buddy Snowy. Snowy is a bit lost without him.

An absolutely adorable pup!

Look at that mug! This is him at 6 weeks old. When we saw the size of his paws, we knew he was going to be huge!

Good-bye Chilly. We will love and miss you every day.

Christmas Stuff

Here is our Chilly, taking a snoozer near the tree. The tree that still is not decorated other than lights. :) A few years ago, we started to collect the Department 56 Dickens Village series. Rick built a table with 2 tiers. I made all the brick work to look just like the ones Dept. 56 sells, along with roads, ponds, and even a snow hill. We have lots of fun collecting and setting it up every year. It's one of my favorite things at Christmas.

Big Snow!

Today we had our first big snow of the year. These pics were taken at about 7", but we are expected to get over a foot. Can you spot the beast??? Snowy---"I'm not going out there. No way. You can't make me. I don't care if I have to hold it all day. Now let me back in the %!#!! house.

Vanessa's car buried in snow. Schools, business' etc. all closed.

Chilly, in contrast to Snowy, would stay out all day if he could!

House Pics

This is a pic of our house before we painted it. We painted it an eggplant color, but its hard to see on this pic.
Here is a pic of a wreath I made a few years ago. Its on the front porch and has seen better days, but I hate making wreaths so I just keep hanging on to it. :)
Heres my Chilly watching me through the front door.

Hanson Concert

Saturday night, we went to see Hanson in Milwaukee at the Rave. We had a blast! We've been Hanson fans for 10 years, ever since Mmmbop. They are so gifted musically and are such a joy to watch live. Isaac Hanson did a cover of a Bill Withers song "use me" and it was awesome! I have other pics of the concert that I'll try and post later. Jennifer, Vanessa, and Samantha. I think these 3 will be pushing each others wheelchairs to see Hanson when they are old!!
THE best part of the whole night was that we finally got to meet a Hanson brother!! Zac Hanson is the youngest brother (22 now) and came out to sign autographs and picture taking after the concert. We were all thrilled!! What an incredibly nice guy. He was so patient and kind and never in a hurry to move on. Just the sweetest guy. I actually had a conversation with him about Paul Newman, who died the day before. :( Every time I turned so someone else could talk with him, he just kept talking to me about Paul Newman and his movies and philanthropy! The girls were just freaking out! As you can see in this picture, Jennifer freaked out the most. She waited 10 years to meet a Hanson and when she finally does, she freezes. She couldn't even talk to him! We will be giving her crap about that for the rest of her life. LOL
Thats me, talking with Zac
Vanessa, Zac and Samantha. They will never forget this.

Door County

The girls gave Rick and I a gift certificate to a resort in Door County for Christmas. Door County is the upper peninsula of WI. We had a really nice time. Lots of shopping, eating, relaxing. Wonderful art galleries and antiques. The weather was beautiful, although the colors hadn't started to change much. This is a pic from from the shoreline at Gills Rock, where we get the ferry to Washington Island Sunset at Sister Bay
This is a pic of one of my favorite artists shop. Pipka is world famous for her Victorian Santas and her shop is in Sister Bay. I just love her work and her shop is so beautiful and whimsical. The first time I went to her shop, I got so excited that I got out of the car too fast and sprained my toe! No injuries this time! lol See her work at http://www.pipkasofdoorcounty.com
Its hard to see, but these are the goats on top of Al Johnsons restaurant. They grow grass on the roof and bring the goats in all day to graze there. Then they go to a farm at night. Its just one of the quirky things in Door County!
This is how clear the water is on Washington Island. We have friends who live there. The only way to get there is by ferry, about 1/2 ride. This is schoolhouse beach. The whole beach consists of these beautifully smooth, white stones. No sand. If you get caught taking just 1 rock, it is a $250.00 fine! Needless to say we don't collect the rocks. lol When we were at this beach, it was just us and complete quiet. Almost forgot what that was like! So peaceful. Our friends have a beautiful home right on the shore on a different beach there.

House Guests!

For the next 10 days, we are blessed to have Omar and Alfie stay with us! They've been here twice before and are just these amazing little characters. Omar likes to "talk" and Alfie just likes to quietly hang out. When treat time comes, I love all these little faces looking up at me. I like to pretend they really love me and could care less about the treats. Yea, right! lol Left to right, Omar, Alfie, Snowy, Chilly.
This is Omar, watching the MTV Video awards with Vanessa. He must've found them as offensive as I did, so he just took a snooze on the couch. Well, I did enjoy Pink's performance. You can see his stitch area where he had emergency surgery 2 weeks ago. He developed bloat (his stomach twisted 180 degrees) and if it weren't for the quick thinking of his daddy Keith, he would've died. I am so grateful that he is o.k and here to take up my couch!

New Hair (again!)

Well, its a lousy pic of me, but you can see that I dyed my hair very dark brown with some purple on the sides. You can't see the purple really well, but its there!

Human Race Chicago

Today was such an exciting day! We took the train to Chicago so Vanessa could run in the Nike Human Race. This race was put on worldwide all in the same day. In the U.S it was in Chicago, Los Angelos, New York and Austin Texas. It was also run in places like London, Tokyo, Munich, Istanbul, Taiwan, Buenos Aires and others. Twenty cities worldwide total. One million runners!! It benefitted 3 different charities. There were 14,000 runners in Chicago, starting and ending at Soldier Field. It was the most amazing sea of these red Nike shirts, and when the race started it took almost 1/2 hour for everyone to cross the starting line. It was the coolest thing to see, all these people running for charity. Vanessa did fantastic! Out of 14,000 in Chicago, she took 2,011th place. Of the women in Chicago, she took 526th!! Of the worldwide women she took 4,683 and all total out of 1,000,000 people, she took 40,072. Does that all make sense?? We are so proud of her and so happy with her results. She ran the race in 52 min 19 sec. It was so hard to find her running in that crowd, but I did get to see her come over the finish line. Glad she dyed her hair darker last week cuz she was easier to spot! LOL Heres Vanessa and Sam pre-race. Sam wants to challenge herself and run it if they hold it again. Rick and I would like to volunteer at it next time and be a part of it. No running for us tho! LOL
Just miles and miles of red shirts!!

As soon as the race was over, everyone who ran the race was treated to a concert at Soldier Field by the band Fall Out Boy. This is a picture of Pete Wentz from the band (the one who's married to Ashley Simpson). Sam was able to get in a little later and join her sister for the concert. See how close they were to the stage??? Rick and I got to sit outside on the hard concrete waiting for them. LOL But it was a beautiful night with a great breeze coming off Lake Michigan so we didn't mind. Lots of people watching to do! Soooo, it was a great day and I am so grateful that we got to go and that Vanessa was able to be a part of something really special.

Day in Chicago

I thought I'd put up the pictures of our Chicago trip while I'm nervously waiting for Michael Phelps to swim!! Went to Chicago for a day of shopping with my niece Tracie and daughter Sam. It was a really beautiful day and we had a good time! Here is a pic of the Chicago river. This is the brand new Trump tower being built right by the river. I think one of the winners from the "Apprentice" show was supposed to be over seeing this project. I also think I read somewhere that he was taken off the project, for whatever reason I don't know?
This is just a pic of a cluster of buildings. The air show is going on this weekend so the planes kept flying overhead. It was kinda creepy cuz they were just so loud!! Did'nt get any pics tho :(
And here is a pic of me and Sam by the subway.

Trip to Madison

Today I went to Madison with Samantha and Vanessa. Sam goes to school there so we were cleaning out and packing up her old apartment for her to get ready to move to a new one. It was a beautiful day! We had a nice lunch at Red Lobster, shopped and then packed and cleaned. And no arguments!! LOL I didn't once yell at Sam about her driving!! LOL She actually has become quite a confident driver in that crazy city. :) Got to go to my favorite store, Urban Outfitters, where I found a pretty scarf that I've been looking for. It's vintage type, floral and I just love it! The girls couldn't believe I paid what I did for it, but hey, a girl can splurge every now and then !! My picture taking leaves alot to be desired, this I know. :)
And, ofcourse, a shopping trip isn't complete without a new mag! If I come home with a new mag, its been a great day! LOL

Charlies "House"

I am dogsitting for a sweet little dog named Charlie. He has decided that my photo tent is to be his house for the week!! He's such a little dolly!

More Flying Lessons!

Thats it!!! I quit my post as the unofficial caretaker/sucker of wildlife!! LOL Last night we had a horrible storm. Really high winds/hail & heavy rain. When I got up early this morning, it was storming again and when I looked out the window in the backyard, I saw a big nest on the ground. I thought it must've been the old nest, from previous robins, that had gotten blown away in the wind. Wrong. I went back to bed & got up a couple of hours later & let the dogs out. We are babysitting Bootsie, our neighbors black lab, for 2 weeks. So all 3 dogs go out & go immediately to the nest. Bootsie was really interested, so I went out & sure enough, it was a new nest that I hadn't seen & there was a baby robin trapped under the nest. Poor little guy! Soooo, I was trying to turn the nest over carefully and check the baby out (there was one more baby that was in the yard already), but Bootsie was bound and determined she was gonna get that bird and the parents (and their cheerleading section) were dive-bombing me and Bootsie. Then Bootsie really pissed them off by jumping in the air & trying to catch them! grrrr. I just couldn't get a handle on Bootsie & she was fighting me so badly that she slipped out of her collar. Finally, Samantha heard the commotion & came out & managed to get Bootsie in the house (my 2 dogs, surprizingly, didn't want anything to do with this mess). So I picked up the baby to see if he had any injuries (much to the dismay of the parents). It could walk and move its wings, but part of his wing looked funny, kind of like raw. So I put it back in the yard to see what he would do. Came out several times during the day & he had moved, but every time I got close, the parents dove at me, like a quarter inch from my head this time! And forget getting a picture. Geezz, I'm just trying to help their kid! LOL After watching baby today & keeping the dogs away, it finally made it to the neighbors yard. So its on the move, I just don't know if he flew or walked. If I see it tomorrow and I can get close enough to see if it's really hurt, I might try & take him to Fellow Mortals in Lake Geneva (about a 45 min drive) where they re-hab animals. We have never had this much bird/nest activity in one summer! I love the little ones, but between the dogs & the parents, I'm all wore out for the season. Until the next one. :)

Flying Lessons

Today we had our second nest of baby robins leave. But not before they behaved liked naughty little toddlers! The nest was in our wreath on the front porch and I knew they were getting ready to leave cuz they were huge. Rick took the dogs for a walk for me this morning and as soon as they got back, the babies decided it was time to go. So the 3 birds took off from the nest, right over Ricks head, and deposited a diaper full of poop on him! LOL It was like they exploded upon take-off! They also got Chilly in the face and the front porch was a mess. Soooo, they came in & I helped clean them both up. I was biting the sides of my mouth, trying not to laugh cuz Rick was definately not laughing! LOL Now, fast forward to these pictures. We came outside tonight to have a smoke & who is sitting there right on my patio furniture?? He was all alone, no noisy parents around, no siblings. So we watched him & made sure the dogs didn't notice him. Chilly walked right by him & didn't see him & the bird didn't flinch when Chilly's tale brushed his face. But Chilly knew something just wasn't right so he started sniffing around & finally came face to face with the little guy. They just stared each other down for a few seconds, Chilly gave him a little kiss (you can't see us, but we were inches away ready to intervene if necessary). Then the little bird flew away, leaving Chilly wondering where his new friend went. It was just the sweetest thing! Chilly is such a gentle soul and has apparently learned from his past mistakes. Last summer, we had a bunny nest & before I could grab him, Chilly had one in his mouth. He put it down and wanted to play with it, but he had killed it. Chilly had the most horrible look on his face & he kept looking at me like "What did I do?" I swear he was depressed for the rest of the day. He is such a character!

Chair for Baby Shower

This is a chair I painted for an up-coming baby shower. It was a pattern in an old Crafts magazine from about 15 yrs. ago. Rick made the actual chair. I made one for my niece when she was born, so this is the second one I've made. This one didn't turn out as well as the old one cuz my hands are not as steady as they used to be! lol But I am happy with it & hopefully the mom-to-be will like it too!

A Great Day!

This is a pic of me & my friend Lori playing water balloon volleyball Here is Rick, trying to keep his head from getting sunburned (his words, not mine!)
This is me standing down by the creek at Petts. The water is much higher than usual because of all the flooding from the storms
This is my awesome friend (and movie buddy) Colleen. She cheered us on in the volleyball game.
Here are our friends Carmen & Lori. Lori was my volleyball partner. Haven't laughed that much in a long long time!

Today Rick & I went to a graduation party. It was at a park here in town & we had such a nice day. Some of our good friends were there, the food was wonderful & the weather was perfect. It was a beautiful, sunny day which was a welcome relief after all the rain & flooding around the state. We played water balloon volleyball. I've never played before & it was a blast! Once I got used to it, I actually didn't suck at it! lol Good friends, good food & my first unbelievable sunburn in years. What more could a girl want???