Brian Salice - grave marker

Brian Salice is the biological father of my daughters Sage and Brooke, for those of you that don't know. His bronze grave marker was finally ready to be put into the ground. The cemetery was nice enough to let us watch the placement for no "additional charge"

The girls were mesmerized while two men worked on cutting out the grass and then filling the hole with cement. Brooke really liked the oil the man used to shine up the marker. The girls designed this marker and were happy to see it mark the place where their daddy's body rests.

They picked out some live flower plants to leave there.

They wanted to take a silly picture for Daddy. Sage thought he would like that.

I am really happy with Forest Lawn in Cypress. They have great customer service and a nice location for those of us that live in Long Beach. I like to visit, but I hope I have many more years before I need check in. Or would that be check out?

If you would like to visit this spot it is in the Sunset section near the pine trees. Spot 5181, space 2. All are welcome, it is open to the public during daylight hours.

Dog scare

Please don't read if you don't like dogs...





Zeus, our 11 year old black lab has been sick for 5 days. Who knows with what. Sage told me that he got into her Valentine's candy, but that didn't seem like it would do it. He just kept throwing up each of his meals starting last Wednesday. At first he would eat it back up (dogs do that), but then I saw a few Ziploc bags (eeeewww) and so I pulled those out and stopped him from eating it. By the next day, he wasn't having much of a bowel movement and he stopped eating much of anything. The vet said to feed him chicken and rice. I tried giving him pepto, milk of magnesia. By this time the vet said to give him Pepcid AC, but he wouldn't even take it wrapped in a marshmallow. Not even with peanut butter all over it.



Saturday morning, was the last straw. He woke me up at 5:30ish in the morning throwing up all around the Wii console in the front room. I woke Lee up to help clean it up. I thought it had gone inside the game console, but nope it is working just fine. At this point, I needed to get him to the vet. He was losing weight and not eating or pooping. The vet took x-rays, and did some blood work and sent me home with pills. Told me to call in on Monday for the results. Have you ever watched a doctor take a blood sample from an animal? It was interesting how he sprayed water or some liquid substance on an area of the neck. Then he proceeded to keep poking the needle in his neck until he drew blood. Amazingly, the dog didn't even flinch. He really loves this vet! Taking abdominal x-rays of a 95 pound (now 82 pound) dog is quite another task. Two techs lifted him up on an x-ray table while I stroked his head and talked to him. He was very good, but extremely nervous (kept licking his lips and holding his tail between his legs). They couldn't snap the exposure until I was 10 feet back from the table. Zeus kept his eyes on me as I would back up slowly and tell him to stay. That worked the first time, but the 2nd time, he stood up...even with the techs holding him. He is very strong when the adrenaline is pumping. So he had to be put in position all over again.



The good news is that on Sunday when we came home from church, he had moved his bowels (going to get gross here). I have never been so excited to see my dog's poop. It looked like a big snake with a gallon size ZIPLOC bag mixed into it. Yep folks, I think we may have cleared him out. I kept feeding him chicken and rice, but he was asking (barking loudly) to eat by afternoon. I slowly fed him dog food a cup at a time (1 hour apart). By dinner, he was back sniffing around the dinner table looking for his next attack. No throwing up, no waking me up in the night to go outside...things were looking good.

This morning, the vet gave me the results of his blood work...perfect! The x-rays showed some obstruction (you think). He needs to stay on the antacid for awhile and some other pill for a few days until everything is balanced again. What a week...don't need another dog scare ever. Zeus is happily taking his morning nap (since all the kids have gone to school and there are no lunches to devour). Happy day!

Side note: Perry thinks that Zeus will happily put the 10+ pounds back on :)

Doll clothes from the south

Sage and Brooke have some wonderfully generous family members that live in the south. They are big into dolls and decorating their nice big homes. One of their cousins makes beautiful doll clothes. Barbara sent a box full of fully lined, homemade doll clothes. We have the best dressed dolls around. The girls were very excited to receive these gems.

This gown looks like a baby could wear it to be blessed in. Very nice quality.

Brooke had asked for a striped dress and she got it!

Sage's robe matched this outfit pretty closely.

Libby joined in on the matching outfit.

Disneyland on a rainy Friday night

I finally brought the camera!

Standing in line waiting to ride Nemo.

Playing around in Toon Town.

We went to see the spectacular Fireworks on Friday night. It was worth it! I know we all enjoyed it, even in the drizzle. Suggestion: take the monorail to downtown Disney to exit the park and then walk to the parking structure instead of riding the tram. I think we arrived home about 30 minutes faster by doing this. Thanks to good feet :)

1st time for everything

Well I can actually say that I managed to survive 6 hours at Disneyland with the 4 children. There is not many things that I feel can keep them all happy for long periods of time. Lee (sad and depressed) had to return to work on Monday after a very long (7 weeeeeeeeeks) break from school. But school was out and Disney was begging for us to come in. I tried to keep the trip focused on things we have never done or something that each child wanted to see or do (including me).

Started off with a musical dance street show from High School Musical 3 in California Adventure. Then we got soaked on some exhilarating water ride that none of us have been on before. I wonder why? Ponchos, trash bags, etc. highly advised. Perry and Libby rode California Screamin'...loved it. The kids had not been on Toy Story - Perry thought it was better than Buzz. We all had a first time riding the Zephyr ---oooohhh, don't need a second time, a little boring for all of us. Libby and Perry also had a first on Monsters Inc. and then we headed over to Indiana Jones - since Brooke was denied our last trip (height requirement). I pinkie swore that I would get her on the ride. After 3 people measured, she passed and hated the ride. She gave it a big thumbs down. Gotta love kids! Sage's favorite was Thunder Mountain.

On some of our long walks we ate cotton candy and then while waiting in line we ate a sucker. Gotta keep the sugar high going to walk all over several lands. Longest wait was catching the tram back to the car! Back at home for dinner and bedtime. Still haven't visited Pixie Hollow, but I know it will still be there next time :) Have you ever looked inside the windows along main street? The kids were enjoying some that depict different Disney stories.