Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  This is Hope, up & doing much better!  The vets are trying to stabilize her glucose levels still before she can be released, spayed, and transported...so sadly I have a feeling she won't make it here for the holidays...but if not she'll make it a Happy New Year!

~E

Casa de Croup

Well, HELLO WORLD...

We have been hiding under a rock...a CROUP rock.

Two weeks ago today Bentley woke up from his nap not feeling well and by that Friday he was a MESS.  After a trip to the Dr. we found out he had Croup and Strep Throat.  After a long few nights of him sleeping with us and several days on antibiotics he started feeling better.  By last Friday Grace was sounding horrible so I took her to the Dr. and...you guessed it, Croup.  She got a steroid shot that seemed to help right away.  I have been fighting a cold for over a month now and as soon as the pediatrician walked in the room and heard me she said "Oh, you have it, too and should call your doctor." GREAT.  After a trip to the doctor later that day my Strep & Mono tests came back neg, so YUP...Croup.  Bentley is much better; Grace and I are on the mend and doing much better, too. 

Yesterday was the first day I've left the house in about 2 weeks unless it was to the doctors or CVS for juice, pedialyte, or prescriptions. 

Bentley has been just being a 2-year-old.  He likes watching his new fish...

And doing 2-year-old things like this...

Grace is very mobile and mischevious now...I think its about time to retire her rocker...

 

 

 

 

 

Her hair is crazy, her eyes are HUGE with long lashes, and she's got the cutest cheeks...

 

 

 

She's getting to like the phone...looking at herself in it...so I have a feeling she'll be just like her brother with gadgets...

 

I've added some things to the Etsy Store, as well as a few things to my space at THE MIX.  Been doing a little crafting here and there.

Hope, our foster Olde English Bulldogge, is still in GA at the vet hospital.  She was in REALLY bad shape when the rescue received her.  She has turned the corner I am happy to say ~ she is eating dog food twice a day on her own and going outside.  She will likely remain in the hospital through this week but I plan to touch base with the vet himself directly on Friday.  From there/when released she'll go to boarding until she is cleared for her spay.  Then she'll hitch a ride to MA!  I'm HOPING she'll be cleared and can make the trip on Dec 13th, which is the last transport pick-up in GA before Christmas.  Otherwise, she'll hitch a Jan 3rd ride.  The 13th is cutting it close but I'm hopingggggggggg...she is doing so much better but we have to make sure she is 1) stable enough for surgery, 2) recovers from surgery OK, 3) stable enough for travel as it is very stressful.  Anywho, she'll be here before we know it!!!

That's it for now.  Just thought I'd letcha know what's been going on...WE'VE ALL BEEN SICK.  The rest of the week will be spent picking up, doing laundry, and getting some Christmas decorating done.  We are having company on Saturday so I'd like to have it looking a bit "holiday-ish" in here!

~E

Happy Friday!

~E

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!!  I am thankful for...

My wonderful husband, my amazing babies, and my loveable pup.  I am thankful to have such wonderful friends and family.

This year, I am SO grateful for English Bulldog-Rescue of GA and everyone who has helped rescue, sent thoughts and prayers, and donated to help towards our girl Hope's vet bills.  I am thankful that I came across her picture when I did and was able to save her from being put to sleep, and now I am thankful for her improving health and all of you who are thinking of her and sending well wishes.  I am especially thankful for my husband who finally gave in to my incessant nagging and allowed me to work to bring this girl into our home for some lovin.

OH, I am NOT thankful for the Croup & Strep Throat.  UGH.

Lots of love,
~E

Stella & Dot Trunk Show to Benefit Hope

Ladies! Or Gents wanting to buy for your ladies!

I am hosting a Stella & Dot Trunk Show where 20% of sales will go towards Hope's vet bills. Thank you to my friend & stylist Amy Thistle for coordinating for me! 

Stella & Dot has been seen on celebrities and all the fashion mags ~ People, US Weekly, etc. 

SHOP AWAY! Might I suggest the "Hope" bracelet?!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP TO BENEFIT HOPE!

You can still make donations via the following ways:

1) Go to this PayPal link and make a donation.  This is my own PayPal account which I use for personal & business expenses but the following link will take you to a donation page.  I ASSURE all funds are going to Hope's vet bills in GA.

2) You can send me a personal check to: Erin Strazzulla, 11 River Ave., South Grafton, MA 01560.  Please put "Hope" in the subject line.

**By end of week I will transfer PayPal funds/take checks to bank and put a check in the mail to the hospital to put towards her balance.** 

3) You can make a donation via check or credit card directly to the animal hospital that is caring for her ~ Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital in Bethlehem, GA.  PHONE: (770) 867-2977.  ADDRESS: Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital, 799 Christmas Ave., Suite 100, Bethlehem, GA 30620.  Please specify that your donation is for Hope, the Olde English Bulldogge Rescue with English Bulldog-Rescue of GA.

4) Buy some jewelry!  http://www.stelladot.com/ts/4ntl5

~E

Helping w/Hope's Bill...

Hi all,

As you saw my post yesterday about our foster girl HOPE in GA, today's update is the following...

Her glucose went down overnight but was up again this morning.  She is on insulin.  She is very down in the dumps and not eating so she is still receiving IV fluids.  They are still working on her eyes and respiratory infection.  I plan to touch base towards the end of the day to check in again.

If you are interested in helping us with Hope's vet bills, which are accumulating as she has been in the hospital since Saturday, you can do one of the following:

1) Go to this PayPal link and make a donation.  This is my own PayPal account which I use for personal & business expenses but the following link will take you to a donation page.  I ASSURE all funds are going to Hope's vet bills in GA.

2) You can send me a personal check to: Erin Strazzulla, 11 River Ave., South Grafton, MA 01560.  Please put "Hope" in the subject line.

**By end of week I will transfer PayPal funds/take checks to bank and put a check in the mail to the hospital to put towards her balance.** 

3) You can make a donation via check or credit card directly to the animal hospital that is caring for her ~ Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital in Bethlehem, GA.  PHONE: (770) 867-2977.  ADDRESS: Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital, 799 Christmas Ave., Suite 100, Bethlehem, GA 30620.  Please specify that your donation is for Hope, the Olde English Bulldogge Rescue with English Bulldog-Rescue of GA.

I am working on hopefully another fundraising effort, we'll see...details to follow if it works out!

If there is any overage I am going to see if it can be applied to the outstanding balance of English Bulldog-Rescue of GA to help with their bills.  The ladies have been amazing in helping save this poor girl and they are helping so many other bulldogs in need, with the bills to prove it!!!

THANKS to those who have already donated!  It means so much!!
~E

SAVING HOPE

Where have I been you ask?  No posts and no word about the Etsy shop or store or my projects or the kids?  This is why...

THIS IS HOPE'S STORY...

I was contacted early last week by the Bulldog Club of America Rescue Network to help with an auction they are having.  I was asked to donate an item from my Etsy Shop (of course I did, happily!) for a Facebook auction coming up this week where all proceeds go to bullies in need.  On Wednesday I joined the BCARN Facebook group and while checking out the page saw this...

Her name was "Sweetie" and she was in the Murray County Animal Control Shelter in GA.  She was set to be put to sleep on Friday (2 days from when I saw this) if not rescued.  My entire day Wednesday was spent making calls/emails/texts to the group of volunteers at the shelter, any animal rescues in MA I could think of for help/direction, and a couple of GA Bulldog Rescue groups.  I finally got in touch with the volunteers and put in donations for "Sweetie's" vaccinations and Health Certificate (along with $$ for two other dogs of their choice) as I'm told that makes them more likely to be picked up by a rescue group.  Then, after a long day at about 8:30 on Wednesday night, the phone rang with GA on the caller ID.  Cheryl Ovenshire of English Bulldog-Rescue of GA was calling with her help!!!!!  Cheryl agreed to locally help this girl and approve me as a foster.  The shelter only releases dogs to an adopter or a rescue, so Cheryl agreed to facilitate the rescue end in GA and then we'd get this girl to MA for foster care.

Quick backstory - those of you who know me know I've been begging the hubby for awhile for a second dog, or to foster a dog, anything dog or animal related.  This time I wasn't looking.  By chance and I think for a resaon this girl sort of "fell" into my lap and I knew I had to help.  My amazing husband knew how important it was to me and agreed to let me help and take this girl in as a foster.

There were 16 other dogs on the list to be put to sleep on Friday morning and I TRIED however I knew to help and was up until the 1AM deadline for their rescue online with the local GA volunteers trying to help.  I made a donation to help two additional dogs get to rescue, and my friend's Mom wants to foster one ~ we are working on that separately.  Happy to say all 16 dogs were rescued but this list comes out EVERY WEEK of these shelter dogs needing homes/rescues or they will be put down.

Back to "Sweetie"...the last couple of days I've spent on the phone learning MA regulations for bringing dogs in out of state and learning the laws.  I spent time on the phone with two very helpful ladies at the MA Department of Agriculture, who is responsible for animal rescue regulations.  I called SEVERAL facilities looking for an isolation/quarantine for our girl as she needs to come directly off transport and go into a 48 hour quarantine in MA and receive another health approval before she can be released to me.  At about 3:30 Friday afternoon I made some headway and talked to the amazing Karen at Pets LLC transport.  Karen is helping on the transport end AND helping me to coordinate a quarantine for this girl when she comes off transport.  So as of Friday if all worked according to schedule and everything fell into place this girl would be picked up in ATL the Thursday after Thanksgiving, make her way to MA for a 2 day quarantine, and then be released to us for foster.

At 2PM yesterday/Saturday Cheryl was scheduled to pick up our girl from the shelter transport and bring her to her home/rescue.  After a warning call from the transport service who she knew, the sight she saw was horrific.  "Sweetie" was so weak they had to lift her from transport to Cheryl's vehicle, she couldn't lift her head, she was covered in her own poop because she was so weak she couldn't get up, bad respiratory infection, ruptered and draining left eye suggesting she might become blind in that eye, nose and eyes full of goo and boogers from her infection.  Cheryl's colleage said that in 10 years of bulldog rescue she has never seen a dog come in so messed up.  I was thinking of naming her Gorjie but after learning of her dire situation "Hope" came to mind ~ and come to find out Cheryl & Joyce thought the same thing and had named her HOPE.  (We after found out she'd only been in the shelter for 1 week).  These are hard to look at if you're an animal lover (keep in mind the picture above when she arrived at shelter)...

 

 

Cheryl and her colleague Joyce got her cleaned up in a warm bath and she was looking better...

 

At 6:45 last night she was on her way to Dr. Tomlinson at Bethlehem Animal Hospital.  She was immediately put on antibiotics for her respiratory infection and fluids.  Her blood sugar was high suggesting she may be diabetic, and her white blood count was high due to her infection.  She was so lethargic she just laid there and let the Drs. do their magic...

 

I spoke to Dr. Tomlinson a short while ago and her update today is that she is stabilizing.  She is still very weak but receiving fluids to keep her from dehydrating.  As far as her respiratory infection ~ she is receiving antibiotics; her lungs are clear but she is FULL of mucous; no respiratory distress however.  As far as her blood sugars ~ her glucose level is down from last night but still high; she has had some diarrhea because of the diabetes but not too severe; the Dr. is looking for her glucose levels to come down to normal today and stabilize over the next several days; she is receiving insulin and is most likley diabetic. As far as her eye(s) go ~  her left eye was ruptured and the outlook for vision in that eye is not good; she is likely blind in her left eye but for now seems comfortable with it; they are looking for the infection to clear up and down the road may or may not need to have that eye removed.  The overall prognosis from Dr. Tomlinson this morning is that she is stable but not out of the woods yet - by Tuesday/Wednesday he will feel better if the respiratory infection clears up and her glucose levels stabilize.  He said she is SO sweet and just lets them do whatever they need to in order to help her.

More updates to follow as I am in contact with EBRGA & Bethlehem Animal Hospital...

Hope's vet bills are escalating and while I have committed to her vaccines, health certificate to leave GA, spay (we are finding out though that she MAY already be spayed, vet will confirm when she's feeling better), transport to MA, and MA quarantine, I did not anticipate these vet bills.  But I am committed to paying and doing whatever I can to save her precious life.  She's made it this far so she's clearly a fighter. 

If you are able to make a donation towards her vet bills I have set up donations to go to my PayPal account.  I ASSURE everything will be used towards her well being.  Please visit my PayPal donation page I set up for her. *Donations to SAVE HOPE* I assure all donations will go to her well being!!!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GKFEG389TYLKG

As long as she is healthy and cleared for transport, she will make her way up here the Thursday after Thanksgiving...but her stable health is the priority first.

MANY THANKS IF YOU CAN HELP!

~E

Happy Friday!

~E

Bentley's Sayings & Stuff...

My funny boy lately...

He wants to show me everything he does ~ "Look IT Mommy!"  MELTS MY HEART.

"Watch THIS Watch THIS!!"

With company one night...
"Bentley, where is your orange?" (as he had been balacing it on the drawer shelf) "Mommy! It's in Auntie JoJo's pocket!! ~ Auntie JoJo was here but did not steal his orange.  Actually I found it the next day in the bottom stove drawer.

Baby Jackson was here and Bentley was nice enough to go over and wipe up his drool with his bib.

Everything - EVERYTHING - is Ty and Aba's.  We go through 50 items a day "Mommy, Ty Ty's....Mommy Aba's" - anything from a cracker to his crayons to his golf clubs!

He refers to himself in the third person. "Bentley...this; Bentley...that."

Everything he says seems to end in a question mark...he raises his voice at the end of everything he says into a higher pitch like he's asking a question...LOL.

He's getting funnier every day!

~E

STORE DISPLAY!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  I've moved into the store and have a 60 square foot space full of my goodies.  On Thursday we went from THIS basement pile...

 
To both cars loaded and STILL a pile in the basement...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
In to the store!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YAY!  Now its time to shop for replacement pieces in case anything sells! Hopefully!

~E