Who says, "It's like riding a bike??" It wasn't that easy!

What a busy weekend! It was pretty fun though. I started out at the Heart Walk yesterday morning. Got up EARLY on a Saturday and ended up walking in the rain! Oh well...it was a good cause. Lucie went too and was SOAKED by the time we got home. Needless to say we both needed a bath! No...didn't get any pictures. It was too wet and yucky...but here's a few cute ones to make up for it.


Yesterday afternoon I had a fun afternoon at the Beer Fest at the Rural Life Museum. It was fun being outside and listening to the band. Again...no pictures.











Today, I decided I wanted a bike to ride around the LSU lakes. So...went to Target and bought a
bike!! Here's my bike! It was fun riding...my hiney is a little sore...but it was fun!! :-)

I tried to share the experience with Lucie...but that didn't work out so well. I didn't take her to the lakes but I tried in my apartment complex when I got home. I have a harness for her that i can wear...I put her in and went for a ride. It didn't seem all that comfortable but she didn't seem to mind. It was going great until she spotted a squirrel!! She tried to jump right out of the harness while we were moving! It was a bit scary. I have not ridden a bike in years...so I was not too sturdy. We almost both went down...now THAT would have made a pretty picture!

So...hope you all had a fun weekend too! Have a great week!

Here's a fun quiz to take....http://www.positivelymary.com/True-Colors-Personality-Test.html. It is a quiz to determine your personality color. I was a GOLD, which was not too surprising!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has had a nice Easter weekend! My mom came to visit for the weekend. We went shopping on Saturday...fun! And went to church today!

And the big news...I FINALLY found a way to stabilize Lucie's leg.

She got new PJ's for Easter. She was not too thrilled...but aren't they cute!?! She stood paralyzed in this spot until I finally picked her up. Well...she wasn't running on her leg!! :-) She also got a stuffed lamb and monkey too. So, it wasn't a complete bust for her!! :-)

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!! I am off until Wednesday and only work until 2 Wed. - Fri....not a bad week!!

Moving on...

Well...I did get some small amount of good news today. I finally called to make Lucie's appointment at the LSU Vet School. They can't see her until April 21. And, they suggest I keep her calm and still until then. HAHAHAHA!!! That's funny! They don't know my Luc very well. Anyway...the good news is...I was originally told (by two different sources) that this surgery would cost me about $2000. Today, I was told (ballpark figure) that it would be about $1200 - $1500. Well....it's better than $2000!!! :-) Ok...I'm grasping, but my baby needs a new leg!! HA! My apartment manager said we could have a bake sale..."Save Lucie's leg!!" HA!! Ok...I'm amusing myself tonight.

Oh...and Melanie...I did try to wrap her knee. It is definitely a two or three person job. I think it helped for awhile...she is just WAY too active!

Have a great week everyone....I have one last birthday dinner tomorrow night. Then, that is IT! Back to the diet!! :-)

HE IS in Control!!

Well...I'm not sure exactly where to start tonight. There seems to be a lot of negativity in all areas of my life right now. So, I have made the decision that this blog is going to be the ONE place that negativity can not get to me!! With that said, all I will say is that I was given news this weekend that will change our lives forever. I'm not ready to share the details just yet...I still need some time to absorb it myself. However, I do want to share something that happened....well, you'll understand after you read it.

On Friday I received some news that just devistated me. There were more events later that night that left me even more crushed and with just a sick feeling the rest of the weekend. That night I just cried to my mom...basically saying, Hasn't our family been through enough this year?!? I completely believe that God never gives us more than we can handle and I already thought he was giving me WAY too much credit...but this was just beyond what I could handle. I hate to even admit this out loud...but I was really starting to question where is GOD??? WE have needed him soo much this last year and I have PRAYED and PRAYED so why do things seem to be getting worse?? I told my mom how ashamed of myself I was to hear myself say that. GOD has shown himself SOO many times in my life...even in the last year. No...my prayers have not been completely answered the way I want...but I know it is HIS way!

On Saturday morning I read a journal entry of someone whose mom is going through cancer. She had been to a conference and posted the following in her journal...

Adversity is not always a bad thing. God is still GOOD, even if He doesn’t heal. We need to learn to embrace what He allows us to experience, knowing that He will give us the grace to experience it. It’s okay to pray that He will take it away (the adversity), but sometimes it’s even greater, when He doesn’t, because it forces us to dig deeper – get deeper with God – relying on Him for an eternal “joy”, rather than depending on a circumstantial “happy.”

The funny part is...she kept referring to the speaker at the conference as Jennifer R. Of course, those who know my last name...I AM Jennifer R! Anyway...I just thought it was God's way of speaking directly to me. I always tell him not to be subtle...I need a knock on the head sometimes!

I got home today and my mom called to tell me this...She had gone to an Easter event for our church and was talking with a friend from her Sunday School class. She is someone I've known most of my life but not someone I am close to. She asked my mom how I was doing. She said she woke up on Saturday morning with me strongly on her mind. She got up to do her morning devotional and prayer and had me in her prayers. Again...God showing me HE is here, He IS in control and HE WILL see us through this.

I will eventually share more with you...but until then, please keep my family in your prayers.

I will leave you with some happy pictures from my cousins wedding on Saturday. A beautiful bride! :-)




The bride and groom
Tiffany and Dustin...








My cousins (l to r) Tonya, Shaye, Tiffany, me and Melissa









Shaye and me...

I AM a good mom!!

My poor Lucie...



Unfortunately, my sweet girl is a bit of a drama queen. In fact, I'm sure our records at the vet are flagged as "Mommy and daughter - Drama Queens!" Friday night we were playing...she has me well trained, I throw the toy and she just picks it up for me. As she LEAPED from the chair and hit the floor, she let out a little cry. And the more I fussed over her...the more she limped. Well, we have been through this MANY times. I freak out....go to the vet...put out $80 - $100...she walks away (sometimes INTO the vet) miraculously cured. So...based on our past experiences....I was a little hesitant about going to the emergency hospital over the weekend.



SOOO...being the GREAT mom I am...I waiting until Monday morning to go have it checked out. At that point, she wouldn't even walk on it anymore. Couldn't get up in the chair or out of my bed without help.

Long story short (HA! TOO LATE!) Lucie has a knee cap that is popping in and out of place. Pain meds for temporary relief...SURGERY for a permanent fix. They referred me to the LSU Vet School where I am told will cost me....$2,000!!!! I'm not sure why I want to cry...Could be that I made her wait all weekend while in pain, Could be the $2,000 it will cost to make her better, or it could be that I will have to sell my car to pay for it!! :-) Ok...that may be a slight exagerration...but we are Drama Queens, remember?! :-)

So, to keep her from trying to jump on the furniture to get to me...I made us a bed on the floor where we have spent tonight watching tv. Poor Boo Boo...

Where do the years go??

I am WAY too young to be saying that!

Today is a very special day for someone very special!! My sweet nephew, Jeremy, turns 18 TODAY!! I remember the day he was born!! As I should...I was 13. Had only been a teenager for 6 days and already an aunt! :-)

He was sooo iddy biddy!! Only 2 lbs and 8 oz. His lungs were not fully developed. His first few days were very scary...we weren't given a lot of uplifting news. After spending 9 weeks in the neonatal in Alex...we brought him home! He was still soo tiny. The premie diapers they bought were too BIG...they had to use surgical masks as diapers!! I'm sure he would appreciate Dee Dee (that's what he has always called me) telling the world about that...but I am just a proud aunt!

Today, he is not TALL by any means...but it does not take much to tower over his 5' 2" aunt. We tease him that some day he will surely grow into those large feet of his. HEE HEE! His sister just got a great dane puppy last week. She was laughing at how he keeps tripping over his own feet...I said, "OH...kinda like your brother!" He is so good humored...he takes it all with a smile!!

Today is a HAPPY day...so I won't divulge details...but he has not had the easiest life and has had MANY obstacles put in his way. But, pushes through each one! I am SOOO PROUD of him. Ok...now, I'm going to cry. But, he just makes us so proud. He has goals set for himself and is dead set on reaching them!! And I know he will!

I really wanted to post before and after pics of him...but, didn't request the baby pictures from my mom early enough. She and my dad are supposed to be working on that project later today...so, maybe I'll have some later today. Until then...here are two recent pics. One with his Dee Dee and one with his sister Kateleen.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY MAN!! I love you bunches and bunches!!!

What now?

Okay...so I created this blog back in June. Now what? :-) I'm not married...so nothing to blog about there. I don't have children...YET, so nothing to blog about there. I do have a life though....right? Sure I do!! HA! If you want to call it that.




So....who am I and why do I feel my life deserves it's own place out in the World Wide Web?? I don't know...maybe this "dating" thing will take off soon and I'll, if nothing else, have some funny stories to share with you. My friends and I laugh that we could write a book on bad dates! SOOO TRUE! HA! Maybe I'll start posting some back stories on bad dates! HEE HEE! That could be pretty entertaining.


Okay...I'm off to make a trip to Wal-Mart so I can RE-Pot plants today!! Ooooh! You should definitely check back later on an update on that! :-)

Ok...so, if the bad date posts do not surface, you can be SURE you will hear lots about my "child." I did say I did not have children...but my 3 year old Min Pin...LUCIE, has no clue that she is not human. So, here is a preview of MANY pics to come!

Yes, I'm aware that she just may kill me in my sleep one day for this picture! :-)