Ranty Nurse Amy

Update: We reached the goal for Amy!!  Thanks to everyone who donated!!

I didn't realize what a horribly rough patch @RantyAmyCurtis is going thru. Her story popped up in my Twitter timeline, and I got myself involved in the conversation about it. It got a tad heated (not between Amy & me), I was behind a couple of really nice chocolate stouts, and thought to myself, "Self, we gotta do something about this."

Amy wants to get her marriage annulled, and the Church's ecclesiastical court fee to process it is $500.00, which she does not have.  That, plus other debt I know nothing about, have her in a tight bind.

Did I mention she is raising three boys?  By herself?? While she went to nursing school, graduated, passed her boards, and went on to qualify for a specialization as well.  All of this reminds me of Martha, and what she went through to adopt and raise me.  (Story here, if you're interested.)

So. I said to myself, "Self, I can stay online here and try to talk my ginger friend down."  That, as you might expect with a ginger,  didn't exactly happen, but it at least stopped. I knew that there was really nothing I could say to Amy that would make it all better, so what could I do? "Self, I said, let's go set up a gofundme for her. She can get the annulment, and have a life free from the ton of spiritual baggage of not having it."

So, I did.

From about midnight last night until just before I posted this, the fund is at $200.00.  Wouldn't it be great to have the $500.00 funded by tomorrow night? Once that happens, I'll ask her if she wants to continue to raise money to help w/ her debts or not.

So, click the link, and make a donation so Amy can freely get on with her life!

P.S. To my ginger friend:  I have a great deal of respect for you as a person of faith, a successful business woman, and as a person.  I have found that, without intending to, I manage to step on your toes from time to time. In our conversations, it is never my intention to cast things in concrete. Last night, all I was trying to do is describe what Amy is up against, not defend it to you. I am sorry that I didn't make that clear to you.  I can describe a bunch of things about the Church petty well, even though I disagree with some of them.

Again, I am sorry for the misunderstanding.

Green Poodles, Create!

My dear friend and 'land lady' has been running a web business for the last few years, under the name "Green Poodle Creations"("GPC"). She has lately gotten a burr under her proverbial saddle, and has a) done some major re-vamping, b) added several new product lines.

GPC is the umbrella organization, hosting the GPC Blog, the GPC Boutique, and the GPC Cookbook, all of which are linked on the side columns here.

Her craft work is folksy and funky, and definitely one-of-a-kind. I had some plain paper lampshades on my Amazon wish list, and found two of these on my front porch one day:

Way cuter, and way better than plain paper! I hope she adds something like these to her collection, soon.

She also has several coffee cup/mug designs that I love, too:

Stressed	Stages of Coffee
Stages of Coffee	Time Travel

All of this is "print on demand", meaning the mug (or t-shirt) is printed up when you order and pay for it.

Speaking of t-shirts...



Go visit, say "Hi", and tell 'em leelu sent you!!

Bad Year For The Pups...

I got this from Deb yesterday:

(H)ad to have my beautiful little poodle put down today. He was 16 years old and had been with me since he was 8 weeks old. We did obedience classes, played fetch, took agility classes, drove cross country...

That would be Curly. 

Last month, she posted this on her blog:

Shadow, my adopted geriatric Shih Tzu, died this morning around 10:30. He wasn’t with me long — only about 5 months. Back around Thanksgiving 2015 I adopted him from the local animal shelter when it appeared no one else would and I was deeply troubled by this dog’s situation. You see, it appeared to me that he had been essentially dumped because he was old and blind. The truth, of course, was probably much more complex than that.

(Go read the rest.)

Her remaining dog is Muppet, whom she got back when we were both in durance vile at ITT. Rowdy and Chester are (in theory) her Dad's dogs. (I believe Deb and her Mom actually do the day-to-day mainenance.)

And last April I lost Suzu, here getting a bit of a bath from Baxter:

I read a remark somehere that 'animals don't have souls, but they do have spirits'. I'm not a fan of the "Rainbow Bridge" thing, but I hope and plan on seeing some of the critters again.

When God created dogs, he said to himself, "These things are really great. I'll be wanting them back sometime later."

Life Is Different Back Here

I found this surprise in yesterday's mail.  The staff at the emergency vet where I took Koda made it for me.  It came with a nice sympathy card.

 

Sigh!

Dakota Has Passed On

Koda (as he was affectionately known), went into convulsions at about 2:30 this afternoon.  I took him to the 24-hour emergency vet, after trying a few first aid things at home.  They pumped him full of valium, which reduced the convulsions to mild tremors.

The vet was straight up with the prognosis - based on what the expensive tests that I can't afford might tell us, she was not optimistic that he could go home and be OK.  So, I made the decision to let him go.

He passed peacefully.  The med they use anesthetised him immediately, and continued on to an overdose.  He slipped away in less than a minute.

Pax vobiscum, Koda.

Dakota (Updated)

Tuesday, Dakota took a pretty good tumble down a full flight of stairs, spine first.  Nothing was broken, but I noticed yesterday that he seemed to have lost balance and strength on his left side.

Last night, he went into full-body convulsions for a minute or so.

We are off to the vet at 3:30.  Koda is resting on the air mattress down here on the first floor.

I don't like how this day is shaping up.

Update:  Back from the vet. We are treating "symptomatically", as the diagnostics for Koda would cost more than mine!  He now has industrial-strength steroids (Dexamethasone) to take over the next two weeks.  If his symptoms are caused by swelling resulting from the fall, this should clear them up. 

I'm cautiously optimistic, which is a big improvement.