New Web Site and Busy Days!

Busy, Busy Days!!  That's what this past week or so has been like!  There is so much to be done in opening a new business! My husband has been a great help with some things even though he already has a full-time occupation/ministry that he needs to keep up with.  My daughter has a full-time job that she needs to work to support herself and her son until we open our Adult Day Care.  So I've been working day and night, and I'm feeling pretty tired right now.

The picture is the road we take back and forth to Dunlap.  It's beautiful scenery when you get to a certain point and can see the view of the mountains!  We didn't go up there today but decided to go furniture shopping instead.  We needed a couple tables and we went with our daughter to a couple of  2nd hand furniture stores and found a very nice table and a bureau for our reception area, at a very good price! While we were there, we had the opportunity to talk with a lady who was acquainted with the ministry my husband works with. We also talked about the stress involved in caring for family members as they age and are diagnosed with dementia.  She said she doesn't think she would have made it when she was caring for her Mother, without the help of being able to use an adult day care occasionally. This was another confirmation of how rewarding this will be.

Our new website address is:  www.caringheartsdunlap.com     

I've also got a blog here at the address: www.caringheartsdunlap.blogger.com

I've posted some pictures on both of them so you can see the progress we're making on our building!

This blog is about the "little moments" that we can so easily miss if we aren't paying attention.  One of those moments came today while I was talking with the lady who had cared for her Mother before she died with Alzheimer's disease.  There are so many stories like that out there.  I am looking forward to being a help to these "caring hearts" by helping to relieve some of the burden and stress they are under, and to ministering to those who have given their entire lives to others and are now in need of some compassion and tenderness in their old age themselves.

Keep checking back and I'll try to keep this updated, although I'm not sure how much I'll be here.  The website and blogspot and Twitter and facebook are taking up most of my time. I think I'm overly "social networked" out!! :-) 

 The beautiful mountains across from The Cooky Jar Restaurant in Dunlap, TN

New Business and New Web Site!

We are opening a new business!

Caring Hearts of Dunlap, adult day care and services!

We are so excited!

Check out our new web pages at:

http://www.caringheartsdunlap.com/

Also, we have a blogspot for the daycare:

http://www.caringheartsdunlap.blogspot.com/

We start renovations on the building on Tuesday!

We're looking for 2 part-time CNAs and a part-time Food Manager.

If you know of anyone in Dunlap, TN that would be interested, please email me at:

linda@caringheartsdunlap.com

Friends are friends forever!

We have spent the last week up in Chicago.  My husband had meetings and since he had to go, we drove and I spent some time with my family and my Mom while he was in meetings.  While we were away, our dogs were boarded at the doggie spa.  Not really a spa, but they really are very nice there and the dogs seem to love going!  Before we even pull up into the parking lot, they get all excited and can't wait to get inside!  Since we got Noel, the Miniature Schnauzer, she and Sarge are fast friends!  They play together all the time and even share a bed at night in the living room while we watch TV.  Now, when we have to go away for a while, we have the boarding place put them together.  When we picked them up after our trip, of course, we were gone a week, so they were very happy to see us!  Noel's left leg was shaved for the IV she had while she was there, because we had her spayed while she was there.  This is the picture that I took of them in the back seat after we picked them up.  They were both so excited to be going home that it took them twenty minutes to settle down!  This is their "happy to be going home" faces!

Family Reunions

I remember growing up in rural Illinois.  Each summer would have an exciting event that we all looked forward to:  our Family Reunion!!  Someone would reserve the place in the Forest Preserve and tables would be set up and the whole family would gather, with so much food it made you dizzy looking at it all!  I can still see my Grandmother setting up the table with a table cloth and there would be coolers filled with soda pop and drinks and ice!  The barbecue grills would be going and food cooking on them.  Games were planned and we all competed especially in the family softball tournament!  One of the neatest things was that us "kids" got to see all of our cousins that we hadn't seen in so long!  Aunts and Uncles in lawn chairs, music playing from radios and laughter rising in the air! What fun we had!
Now most of those family members from back then have passed on and with them, somehow the tradition of the Family Reunion passed on also.  Many reasons were given: family moved on to other states, key persons that had always planned it were passed on;  no one could get off work or travel that far, etc.  It's a shame because that was really the only time that all of us got to really spend some fun time together and catch up on what had been transpiring with each of us.

Now my Nephew and his wife have decided that enough time has gone by without all of us seeing each other and they have planned our first Family Reunion in probably 20 or more years. Many of our family are traveling today and a few have arrived early to spend some time with their children doing some sight-seeing before tomorrow.  Most of the ones attending are the younger generation: cousins!  Some of us older family will be there also, but it's so nice to see the younger families desiring to pick up this old tradition again!

Tomorrow will be a blessed day!  Praying for everyone to have a good time and safe travels and that this tradition will grow even bigger with each passing year!

A salute to old traditions!

We Will Remember in November

Praying that God will have mercy on our nation, forgive our sins, and bless us once again!

Nostalgic

 

Last week, my husband and I went away to a cabin in Townsend, TN to celebrate our 42nd anniversary!!  We were isolated from the world in a magical world of woods and silence!  When we awoke on that first morning after arriving the night before, we were surprised to see a Winter Wonderland all around us!  I opened the door to take some pictures and was awed by the silence and the sound (yes, it does make a sound) of falling snow on the trees and shrubs. It was beautiful!!

Trying to decide what we really wanted to "DO" on our anniversary,  we realized something:  when you get to our ages and have been married for as long as we have been, it's hard to find something different or exciting to do!  So we decided to just go into Pigeon Forge and see where we wanted to eat our anniversary dinner at and we'd decide what to do once we got there.  Well, neither of us could find anything that looked like "fun" until we saw a Books-a-Million store!!  Our eyes lit up and we realized that nothing could be better for us or more fun than going to the book store!!  We have always loved books!  We pulled into the lot and went through the doors and although I told myself I was only going to look and really didn't expect to find anything that I wanted to read, (as I have several books at home still that are unread!), within the first five minutes I found not one but FOUR books I just had to have!!   We spent about an hour or so in there browsing and when we finished, we decided to go to Calhoun's to have our anniversary dinner!  The food was excellent and we noticed that right next door was my favorite candy store! I discovered this candy store in Gatlinburg several years ago and now they have one in Pigeon Forge!  It's named "Kilwin's" and they have the absolute BEST pecan-caramel apples in the world!  I bought two and we headed back home.  We were supposed to get more snow so we wanted to get home and across the mountain road we took before it got dark.

What a wonderful day we had!

Today, I have been reading one of the books I purchased and it's called "Making Rounds With Oscar" by David Dosa, M.D.  It's an excellent book, although I must say that it has made me feel a little sad reading it.  It has brought up many memories of when my Dad was dying from Alzheimer's Disease.  The book is about a doctor that makes rounds in a nursing facility and the patients he serves and a cat named Oscar that senses when a patient is about to die.  It's really very interesting, but if you have had a loved one die with Alzheimer's, it may make you feel sad as you revisit those days in your mind.

I finished another book that I bought that day titled "One Good Dog" by Susan Wilson.  I read it in a couple days it was so good!! I highly recommend it although as a fair warning, it does have a few swear words in it. Wonderful story otherwise!

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep... "

Cold and Heat

The last few days here in the southeast, have been brutally cold!  Temperatures at night going down in the single digits in some places with a wind chill making it almost unbearable!

Remember what I wrote about getting a new puppy for my Birthday, "Christmas Noel"?  Well, puppies need to be taken outside a LOT to learn to be housebroken.  One must act quickly too, as soon as you see the "signs" or their urge!  This means quickly grabbing coat and scarf and gloves and my "Clicker" and "Doggie Treats" all in one swoop in order to get her outside quickly enough!  Then she, being the three month old puppy that she is, once outside, decides it's play time instead of potty time!  She wants to eat every rock and leaf and twig she can find instead of doing her business. 

I've been told by a medical professional and friend that I show classic signs of ADD.  Well, this pup makes me look good! She gets distracted by literally everything she sees and every sound she hears and has to repeatedly be reminded that we're out there freezing in the cold, so she can do her business!  Many times, after I just can't stand the cold anymore, I give up and bring her back inside to try again later. It then takes me several minutes to thaw out, only to have to quickly repeat this routine again a few minutes later until she "finally" decides to do her business.  Remember what I said about "I must be crazy!"? 

This afternoon the sun was shining so pretty and it had warmed up just a little bit so I thought I'd take both dogs out to the back yard to get some play time and exercise in.  It was fun watching them romp around the yard chasing each other and playing "keep away" which is Sarge's favorite game, bar none!  As I watched them play, the wind and air still felt very cold after just a short time, but as I stood in the yard, I could feel the penetrating rays of the sun seeping into my face as I turned it upwards to the sky and just soaked it in.

Is there anything that feels better than the sun soaking into your skin

and penetrating deep down inside,

on a cold and chilly day? I think not! 

Call Me Crazy!

Right before Christmas, my daughter called and asked us to help her find a puppy for our Grandson.  He is an only child and she thought that having a puppy would give him some companionship. So the search was on!  Our middle daughter found a Miniature Schnauzer breeder online and called us. We made an appointment to go and look at the puppies. The one thing I did that was not too smart, was I went with her, as did our middle daughter!  You know how it is when you see a little puppy! Oh they're so adorable and cuddly and cute and you pick them up and hold them and that's IT!  It was love at first sight for all three of us!  We walked out of there, each with a puppy in our arms! Two little girls and my youngest daughter with the only boy left of the litter.

I had to be crazy!!  We already have a 55 lb., 3-year old Boxer!  Did I REALLY want to start house-breaking and training all over again??  I wasn't thinking clearly about that though when I was holding this cute little puppy in my arms!  My husband kept saying "Are you SURE you want to do this?  why don't we just wait a little longer until Sarge (our Boxer) is older?  Then we can think about getting a puppy!"  no..... I HAD to have this puppy!  She was just SO CUTE and SO CUDDLY!  She LOVED me!! What could I do?

We brought them all home, and I decided in the car on the way home what her name should be....  there was no other choice!  It was a few days before Christmas; her new name would be "Christmas Noel" and we'd call her "Noel" for short.  I was very pleased with this ingenious stroke of creativity in choosing a new name.

Well, we've had Noel now for almost three weeks.  When we brought her home we discovered why she was so cuddly and so calm:  she and her siblings we very, very sick.  She had a very bad upper respiratory infection and very bad congestion in her lungs. Her brother, had pneumonia!  They both had to stay overnight at the animal hospital to be treated.  Since they were so young, the Vet was concerned that the aggressive treatment might be even harder on the little boy, since he had it the worst.  Thankfully, we have a very good Vet and they both pulled through after another ten days of antibiotics and tender loving care.

Now, we have this little "demon dog" on our hands that has so much energy and orneriness that she's a handful, even for our Boxer!  I decided to pay the fee and take her to puppy training classes at PetSmart.  She can now "Sit", "Down" and "Leave It" as well as "Come" when called. We're still working on the housebreaking thing, although she's starting to get the idea.  She still has mistakes in the house.  It's more "owner training" and "owner quick reactions" than it is pet training though!  And every time she is outside, she wants to eat every rock, stick, leaf and twig she finds!  She ends up getting lots of treats for "Leave it!!"

I just have to ask myself some days though,

WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING???  I'M GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS!"

Until she sits pretty and looks up at me with those adoring eyes!

I'm a Goner then!  Call me a Soft Touch! Yep, that's what I am!

Maybe a little CRAZY too!

But then, who would blame me?

Isn't she just adorable?

Meet Christmas Noel:

Our First Snow of 2010

We had our first snow of the year yesterday and today the temperature is so low that everything is frozen!  My Family and Friends up north laugh at us down here because they see this and hear that all the schools are closed and everyone is making a big deal out of it, when they have 6 inches and it's still coming down!  My Nephew said they don't close the schools up north until it's 20 below with 8 or more inches of snow! Funny how different areas of the U.S. are!  I told them that "Abscence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!"  :)  We never GET snow but once or twice a year and then just a light dusting!  So when we hear "SNOW" --- WE get excited! Excited and worried!  We're not set up down here for heavy snow removal or management like they are in other areas; plus, we had HILLS and MOUNTAIN roads.  People hear snow and they all panic beforehand (just in case!) and clean out the grocery store shelves!  My husband stopped by Wal-mart yesterday on his way home because we heard it was going to snow and then turn to ice.  We were out of a few "essentials" (like bathroom tissue!! and bread of course!).  He said that it took him forever to even find a parking space, let alone get out of the check-out lines!  Funny!  So here we are, with all the schools closed this morning and parents that either had to take time off work or find something to do with the kids because most of the businesses will be open.

I just want to leave you with one thought; a quote from the character Jerry Espinson on "Boston Legal":

"Friendships are like backyard gardens: we plan to attend them, but we always manage to put it off until next week."

May we all make a concerted effort to tend to our friendships and family relationships this year!

God bless you and Happy New Year!