Every Monday is Full of Puppy Smiles

Olive's puppies will be going home this weekend.  They are SO sweet and SO adorable!  We just love them!

Playing out in the warm sunshine is always fun!

We can tell stories

And play fetch with Mr. Yesteryear Acres

He has the best toys

My name is going to be "Sully"

  

I'm going to fly on a plane to Arizona!

Smile!

We have brand new chocolate and red caramel puppies to love.

They look like a box of chocolate and caramel delight!

So many beautiful colors!

And our sweet golden Birdie delivered the most beautiful goldendoodle babies!

Happy Monday!

One Hour LESS? ACK!

Oh my gosh! Who ordered one hour less sleep today? I could REALLY use that hour.   I miss it so!!!!  Let's see....here at Yesteryear Acres we have....

Cared for our recuperating son

Cared for Mr. Yesteryear Acres Mommy

Said goodbye to some of our adorable double doodle babies as they left for their new homes

Said hello to some new doodle babies that were born....in the middle of the night

And made lots of food and care packages to take over to Mr. Yesteryear Acres parents' house. Mr. Yesteryear Acres went over this evening as his Mommy just got home from the hospital!  YAY!  We had homemade breads and rolls and dinners and side dishes and more dinners.  I am pretty sure they are set for the week!

All with one less hour to the day! Man. I am tired! And for everyone that can't wait for tomorrow......
Introducing our sweet Birdie!  She is McGyver's daughter and our newest Mommy!

She is the sweetest girl

With a heart of gold

She loves everyone

And will follow you wherever you go

She is a faithful, stay-by-your-side, doggie

AND here are her new Goldendoodle babies!

Awwww....so little

AND because we had one LESS hour......

Nutmeg had her Red Caramel and Chocolate Babies too!

She totally didn't want to be left out of the fun!

I wonder what I would do with that extra hour?

Hmmmm.... I think.......SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!

THREE Year Blogiversary

Today marks my third year anniversary of writing my daily blog. This will be my 1,109th consecutive post - as I have not missed one single day of writing since I started writing my blog on March 9th, 2010. Some days writing my blog is SO easy! I have a million things that are "blog-worthy" and I can't wait to write my blog of the day.  Other days, all that has happened is that I cleaned up puppy poop, I cleaned up the house, I cleaned up puppy poop, I washed dishes and then I cleaned up puppy poop again. It is a little harder to be creative on those days.  Everyone here at Yesteryear Acres is VERY conditioned to know that if something remarkable happens - either good or bad - I will write about it.  Sometimes my son will say, "OH NO!  This will be in your blog won't it!?!?"  My response? "YOU BET!"  It is all fair game here! In reading my blogs, I think you get a good sense of our life here at Yesteryear Acres.  The good.  The bad.  The happy. The sad.  You know.....LIFE!  Life is definitely a mixture of all of that.  The hard days make you even more grateful for the easy days.  The sad days make you more grateful for all the happy days.  I can say that I am grateful for every day. I am grateful for every day I get to spend with my loving family. I am grateful for every day I get to spend with my sweet doodle doggies and sweet doodle puppies. I am grateful for every day I get to write my blog and share our life here at Yesteryear Acres with you. A grateful life is a happy life and I know for sure - I am one lucky happy blog writing, family loving, doodle puppy lover! Happy Three Year Blogiversary to me!

Heading Home

Tomorrow Eloise's sweet Double Doodle puppies start heading to their new homes.  Our first puppy leaves here at 9am and our last puppy heads home late tomorrow afternoon.  It will be puppyful puppyfun puppytastic all day long.  Today I got all the puppies groomed, puppy nails trimmed, puppy food ready, puppy care packages ready and still had time for the puppies to have some nice recess breaks outside.  The sun was shining and although it wasn't warm, it was still a good day for puppy play.  The puppies have been SO good about going to the bathroom OUTside and are such loves! They come running when they are called and are just the sweetest bunch. I am excited for them to meet all their new puppy families!  I know it will be love at first sight! Puppyriffic!

Laughter and Good Friends

I am so thankful for the many emails, posts and texts asking how my son is doing.  I really appreciate all the love!!!!!  I have to say - they are definitely the highlight of my day.  Today I received the FUNNIEST email from an awesome  friend of mine.  She said, "This will be you in 40 years" I opened up my email and it was a video of a very elderly lady dancing.  I mean she was breaking it down!!!!  It was AWESOME!  At the end of the video she said, "I could dance all @%*&!@ DAY!"  Oh my gosh!  I cracked up out loud!  I had just finished vacuuming the upstairs and of course I had my music on and of COURSE I was dancing while I was vacuuming. I literally had just been thinking about how much I love to dance.  It was great timing and an awesome video and so awesome she thought of me!  I laughed all day long every time I thought of it.  Another good friend of mine asked me how my son was doing.....followed by asking me how my son was doing. She has the short term memory situation down!  She totally summarized my day with that! I love my friends!  THANK YOU!

Video Chat

This morning my older daughter was lucky enough to get a real bona fide snow day! The Marine Corps Base was under Code Red and she didn't have to report to duty. She was so excited. She thought her snow days were long behind her.  The timing was great as she just got back from being out in the field since last week and hadn't slept for days.  She had the whole day to catch up on sleep and get some much needed food and she was able to finally warm up. This afternoon she had time to video chat with me and that was AWESOME! I haven't talked to her in a long time and I loved seeing her sweet face.  She got to talk to me, she got to talk to Mr. Yesteryear Acres, she got to check up on her brother AND she got to talk to the doodle doggies and doodle puppies. Guess who she was MOST excited about seeing on the video chat? Was it me, her sweet Mom who loves her so dearly? Nope.  Was it sweet Mr. Yesteryear Acres who loves her so dearly? Nope. Was it her brother who is still at home recovering from his head trauma? Nope. WAS IT THE DOODLE DOGGIES?!  Of course it was.  She had the BIGGEST smile on her face when the doggies came on the camera.  She talked to all of them.  She talked to every puppy. The doodle doggies were SO excited to see her.  The second they heard her voice they all came running.  The puppies were pretty happy with all the extra attention as well.   I love snow days.  To me, they always bring extra special family time and snow filled happy memories.

The Orange Juice is Beautiful

The past few days have been exhausting to say the least.  I have been super busy with the puppies and taking care of my son and making some extra meals for my mother-in-law.  She hasn't been feeling too well and needs surgery this Friday.  She will be in the hospital for a few days so I wanted to be sure to get enough meals made to take care of Mr. Yesteryear Acres parents.  I finally sat down last night at 12:15am and was going to relax and watch some TV but instead just went to bed and collapsed.  I was still tired this morning when the alarm went off but Mr. Yesteryear Acres had my coffee all ready as soon as my feet hit the floor. It was so good that it wasn't too long before I was back in action. I have been busy crossing things off my list all day. I have a couple of roaster chickens in the oven, roasted potatoes and carrots. I figure that will make a few nice meals.  Everyone loves slow-roasted chicken when they don't feel well.  Remarkably my son REMEMBERED what was for dinner tonight!  He told me twice that we were having chicken!  This is huge progress! Yesterday he could not remember the word bicycle no matter how hard he tried. When I brought him a glass of Orange Juice - he took a sip and said, "The orange juice is beautiful".  Now I know the color orange IS beautiful but what he meant to say was delicious. Yes, we still have some progress to make BUT he does know we are having chicken for dinner! I think we are on the way to feeling better! Hurray!

Puppy Break

Today I really enjoyed my puppy break. The SUN was shining when we went outside! It felt like a miracle! It snowed all day yesterday and tomorrow we are supposed to get a big snowstorm so I thought it was particularly kind of Mother Nature to bring out the sun for Puppy Picture Monday.  The puppies loved it too!

We are coming Mr. Yesteryear Acres!!!!

Three Chocolate cuties!

We are perfectly in sync!

Our Double Doodle puppies are almost ready to go home

They are complete snuggle bears!

Here they are trying to make a Greeting Card cover

Is this how you do it?

How about this one?

We are so adorable!

Happy Monday!!!!

Slow and Steady

It looks like my son might be home for a while.  I don't see any signs of him returning to school quite yet.  He is unable to sit up for more than 20 minutes and doesn't have much mobility.  He is still in the "everything hurts" stage.  The biggest concern of course is his short term memory problem.  I am hopeful that this continues to improve because even though I like seeing him smile when I say I am making a big batch of Tapioca Pudding for him - it scares me a bit when it is the 20th time I have told him that. I have gotten a lot of thanks though! "OH THANK YOU MOM! I LOVE TAPIOCA PUDDING!"  I have heard that a number of times today.  I just brought up a small bowl of tapioca pudding, so hopefully he will remember that he ate it! I have homemade rolls rising in the oven but I thought I would just surprise him with that.  Actually every time I tell him something, it is a surprise (over and over again) so I thought I would wait until he had the rolls in his hands. Surprise!  I made you rolls! That way he can be eating the rolls before he forgets that I made them. I figured this is a good plan! Between the homemade goodies and the doodle doggies constantly by his side, he should continue to get better.  I am hoping tomorrow we will see a big improvement. Nothing says feel better than doodle doggies and homemade goodness.

Therapy Doggies

Yesterday was quite the long day.  I believe I made a minimum of 25 trips up and down the stairs checking on my son....and that was before lunch! My son is really sore and it is hard seeing him in so much pain.  I was reminded MANY times yesterday that he had a concussion and I have to say each time, it frightened me a little. For instance - my son asked no less than 12 times what was for dinner. "Hey Mom, What's for dinner?"  I replied, "Slow Roasted Pork, German Noodles and Green Beans."  5 minutes later, "Hey Mom, What's for dinner?"  The worst was when I came up to his room WITH his dinner and he asked me what was for dinner.  Then I gave him his dinner and he asked me what was for dinner.  Then his plate was on his lap, his fork was in the pork and he said, "What's for dinner?"  Head injuries are just so scary!  I managed to get some sleep last night and today seems to be a little better.  He made a plea to have a therapy dog by his side 24/7.

He said he really really really needs the doggies ON his bed

He sent me this picture so I could see how much therapy assistance he was getting

Blossom says, "I will be a therapy doodle doggie!"

"Choose us! We will never leave your side!!!!"

I have to say, the smile on my son's face when the doggies are with him is the best sight in the world. Our sweet therapy doodle doggies are making him feel better and hopefully today, he will remember what's for dinner!

Back Home

After a long night at the hospital we are back home.  My son has an acute contusion of his head, a severe cervical sprain, an acute contusion of his neck and  a concussion. He is restricted from all activity for the next 3-5 days and it will be some time before he is cleared for sports again.  He is in quite a bit of pain but we are so grateful nothing is fractured and so glad to be back home.  I am setting up a movie marathon for him and hopefully with the medication and neck support, he will get some much needed rest.  Thank you to everyone who was thinking of us.  That meant so very much to me.  I rushed out of the house so quickly, I left my phone at home and my ipad died shortly after arriving at the hospital so I didn't have any way to update or answer any calls or texts.  I was so frustrated at having left my phone at home. I couldn't even call Mr. Yesteryear Acres to let him know what was happening. I will have to do a better job of remembering my phone next time I dash out the door at 100 mph! Thanks again for all your support. Mr. Yesteryear Acres has made me a fresh delicious cup of coffee and I am all set for nurse duty! Glad to be home!

Hoping Not Serious

Where am I right now? If you guess Urgent Care - you win. Oh. My.  Can I  get a frequent flyer card or something? Can I have a dedicated room? My son was injured during track practice. He has what appears to be a severe head injury and neck injury. The doctors at the Urgent Care are thinking possible cervical fracture. Right now they are fitting him with a cervical brace and it looks like we will be transferred to the Emergency Room by ambulance. I just hope my boy is okay.  He is in a lot of pain.  We hope we can be seen here and it is something less serious like a soft tissue injury.  No scratch that - we are definitely headed to the emergency room. The doctors just came in and said he has to go. The ambulance just arrived and they are coming to get him.  I will be following behind. Looks like we are in for a long night.  

PuppyLaPalooza

Today was puppy shopping day! After all the neat things I got to see at the Global Pet Expo, I just had to order some for our sweet Yesteryear Acres Doodle Doggies and Puppies. I was lucky enough to receive several discount codes/coupons that expired at the end of this week so the shopping had to get done right away. I got to spend my day browsing through hundreds of cute toys and collars and leashes and everything doodle. Shopping for our Yesteryear Acres Doodles is always so much fun. I found some new toys that I think the puppies will really love and I stocked up on some old favorites as well.  I can't wait for the big order to arrive.  It will feel like Christmas.  My doggies are already well trained - they know that the Mail Carrier always brings something good - and this time there will be goodies for everyone.  So exciting!  It will be PuppyLaPalooza around here! Okay Delivery Man - The Doodles are Ready!

Global Pet Expo Pictures

I finally got my pictures synced to my computer from my trip to the Global Pet Expo.  I learned a TON and have already started using some of the tips! Here are a few pictures from my trip:

The Global Pet Expo was huge! I took this picture while standing in the middle - there was just so much to see!

This doggie is a retired Army Veteran.  He is a hero doggie!!!!

Of course I had to play with the puppies.  I play with puppies every day at home and even still - the second I saw the puppies I was so excited.  "OH PUPPIES! YAY!"  They were super cute and so sweet!

I was invited to meet Cesar Milan's doggies.  I am petting his pit bull companion "Junior" and I have one doggie behind me that just loved me. They were a sweet bunch.

Cesar did a doggie treadmill demonstration.  Maybe I should train one of my Yesteryear Acres Doodles to walk with me on my treadmill! 

I think the person that took this picture for me wasn't too happy that I got invited to go up on stage with Cesar.  She begrudgingly took the picture. It might just be the worst picture ever! LOL. I think she shook my camera on purpose. In any case - you can tell that I was there.  I had a nice chat with him too. He was super excited about the launch of his new dog products.

 

Here I am with a few of my Labradoodle Breeder friends.  We shared a lot of information and everyone learned something new.  I am so glad I went!

Thanks my sweet doodle friends!!!!

Just ONE more please!!!!

My camera is breaking! ACK! Horrors! I need my camera! I take puppy pictures every Monday and having my most awesome camera is a must.  Today as we were taking the puppy pictures the shutter button wouldn't work. No matter how hard I pressed, the picture wouldn't take.  We had to take the battery out, put the battery back in, shoot a long distance picture, then shoot a close up and then repeat for EVERY SINGLE PUPPY PICTURE. It took over 2 hours to get the pictures done.  Needless to say, my camera is headed to the repair shop! I kept saying, "just ONE more picture PLEASE!" after every take.  Luckily we got individual pictures of all our sweet puppies and the pictures turned out even with all the camera woes.  So without further ado....here are this week's pictures!

The puppies were so surprised to see something called "The Sun!"

They wondered where all the ice went

The walkways were all dry and warm

It was perfect for napping

They loved the warm sunshine so much, they even cooperated for a group shot!

Olive's puppies are getting bigger

They start solid food this week and will really start to grow

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!!

That's Early!

I never realized how many people are adamant about an early arrival to the airport. Last night when I was talking with my doodle breeder friends about my flight home this morning, almost every single one was insisting that I arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before my flight. 2 hours? I told them I always arrive 1 hour before my flight and I never have any problems. They were all aghast with horror! ONE HOUR!?? Are you crazy?!! YOU HAVE TO ARRIVE AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE!!! I thought I was doing well to arrive an hour early. When they heard that I had to check luggage, the look of horror on their faces was almost frightening. I said the hotel is only 12 miles from the airport - at most that is a 30 minute drive. My flight was scheduled to depart at 7:30am. I was going to have the taxi pick me up at 6:10am. I figured who leaves Orlando at 7:30am on a Sunday?! Most people will stay all day to squeeze in every minute of fun before they leave "the happiest place on earth". I was told by no less than 20 people that I would never catch my flight. I thought I was making a huge sacrifice when I said, "What about if I leave at 6:00am?" ACK! NO! YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT! Man. These people were tough. I began to question my own policies. One breeder had a 7:00am flight and left the hotel this morning at 3:40am! To me - that is insanity! I found 2 other friends that also had 7:30am flights and we compromised and had the taxi pick us up at 5:30am. Oh. My. SO EARLY! We arrived at the airport by 5:45am and what do you know........I was at my gate by 6:10am. Dear Doodle Friends that made me leave so early........Thank you for giving me plenty of time to write my blog, eat breakfast, walk the airport, answer my emails, watch a movie, walk some more, and still have plenty of time to sit and wait and wait and wait. Oh boy! Only 20 more minutes until I board and 45 minutes until the flight leaves! Is it nap time yet?

Labradoodle Conference Awesomeness

Today was Labradoodle Labradoodle Labradoodle all day long. It was a great conference full of invaluable information. We went over everything from newborn puppy care to picture taking to breeding practices. I have been to every single Labradoodle Breeder Conference and I always leave with so much gratitude. I always learn something and I always leave with great ideas on how to be an even better doodle owner. We had one session that taught us how to use a new software made specifically for dog breeders. It is a software package that keeps track of everything. You can manage your monthly sales tax reports, year-end tax statements, dog health records, puppy birthdates - everything. It was so informative and the software would really make me so much more organized. I kept shaking my head up and down during the whole session as I was so eager to get the software and improve my record keeping. At the end of the session there was a raffle to give away one software package and guess who won???!!!! ME!!! I was so excited I actually jumped up and down with my hands in the air shouting, "THAT'S ME!!!! YAY!" I cannot wait to get home to set up the new program. This will be so great. I am so glad I came to the conference and once again I will be leaving with brand new tools to make Yesteryear Acres even better.

Global Pet Expo

I am so excited because I had the best day at the Global Pet Expo. I found some terrific new toys and fun things for my doodle doggies. The Global Pet Expo was HUGE. It took forever to get through the entire Expo. It was the length of 11 football fields and every square inch was packed with pet goodies. I started in one corner and methodically went up and down every single aisle. My step counter read over 20,000 steps before the day was over! That was a lot of walking! I talked to so many pet lovers and the whole day was great. I got asked to be in a commercial for a doggie toothpaste so of course I said yes. They are going to let me know when the commercial runs so that is exciting. I even got invited by Cesar Milan to go up on stage with him. That was awesome. I have pictures of me with his doggies and a picture of me with Cesar. Later in the afternoon I met up with some of my labradoodle breeder friends and we walked the floor together. All in all - one perfect day!

Who Needs A Jacket?

The last thing Mr. Yesteryear Acres said to me as I walked out the door was that he loved me and he would really miss me. The second to last thing he said was that I might want a jacket. A jacket? Me? No way! I am going to the Global Pet Expo in FLORIDA. Where it is WARM. I definitely don't need a jacket. Fast forward to me waiting at the airport.....where they are doing construction....and there is a lovely wintry breeze whipping through the waiting area. Everyone is hovering with their teeth chattering. Why don't I have a jacket? The 2+ hour plane ride was no warmer. Everyone was complaining about how DARN COLD it was. My nose was running non-stop and my teeth were chattering. I was that cold. Why don't I have a jacket? WAH! I am so coooooooold! I would like to say that when I landed in Florida that my coldness was over, but alas, it was not. Since I had debated so long as to whether I would actually go to the Pet Expo, I didn't arrange transportation to get to my hotel. As I exited the airport and started walking towards the taxi stand, I saw the city bus. The banner said CONVENTION CENTER. Hey! I am going there! I asked the bus driver if he went by my hotel. He said, this bus will take you RIGHT there. What!?! Perfect! The fare? $2.00! What a BARGAIN! I am feeling so smart. I got on the bus. I paid my $2.00 and I was soon surrounded by Floridians in winter gear. The air conditioning on the bus was blasting ON ARCTIC. I am still sooooo cold! Why Oh Why didn't I bring a jacket??!! BUT I am feeling optimistic. I should be at the Convention Center any minute. The bus driver said that the bus would go RIGHT there. The Convention Center is only 12 miles from the airport. I check my watch. 30 minutes have elapsed. We have stopped every 200 feet. How many bus stops can there be? How many times can we stop? I am sure we will be there soon. Oh my am I cold. I check my watch again. Another 30 minutes. Ummm???! Hey?! Where is the bus driver going? OH obviously it is lunch break. The bus driver literally stopped the bus on the street and then walked to a taco restaurant to get food. OK. No one else seems bothered so it must be a common practice. Wow. It is really not that much fun sitting on a bus, surrounded by strangers, holding onto your luggage. Finally the bus driver came back and it was back to STOP. GO. STOP. GO. The ride just would not end. TWO HOURS LATER - the bus driver says, you should get off here. Your hotel is back about 1/2 mile down that street. Lovely. I get off the bus with all my luggage and walk to the hotel dragging my suitcases behind me. As soon as I give my name to the receptionist, she says that she cannot find my reservation. Evidently this is the OTHER hotel with the same name. The one I want is another mile down the road. They offered to call a taxi and said it would take 30 minutes before one would be available. So of course I said, no - and I picked up my luggage and hit the road and walked to the other hotel. $2.00 bus ride. Might have not been the best move of the day BUT after walking 1.5 miles with my suitcases........at least I am no longer cold!

To Go or Not to Go

This week is the Global Pet Expo and Winter Labradoodle Breeder's Conference. I have had this trip planned for a few months but was so worried about going. Mr. Yesteryear Acres still isn't feeling 100%. There is so much work to do at home. I felt like I really needed to stay home. Mr. Yesteryear Acres assured me that things would be fine. When I went to the SuperZoo and checked out all the new dog products, I found some awesome things for our doodle doggies and puppies. I learned a lot at the seminars and at the conference. The trip was SO worth it for our sweet doggies. I found new toys and treats and grooming products and learned better ways of doing some doodle chores. I firmly believe that there is always room to learn and grow and to do better. Just because "it's the way it has always been done" doesn't necessarily make it the best way. Sometimes you can find even better ways of doing something! I love to do the best I can for our doodle doggies ... And so I packed my bags and headed to the airport at O'Dark-Thirty. Here's hoping for an informative and productive week!

Green White Green White Green

Oh look outside! It is so beautiful!  Everything is white.  Snow is everywhere. What a beautiful vision of Winter.
1 hour later...................
Oh look outside! It is so beautiful! Everything is green! Green Grass everywhere.  What a beautiful vision of Spring.
This has literally been our entire week here. We have had several days where every single branch on every single tree has been loaded with snow and our backyard has looked like a snowglobe.  We have had the most beautiful winter days this week.  We have also had nothing but green grass with the spring flowers starting to bloom. We have gone from NO snow to 1/2 foot of snow back to no snow almost every day.  Sometimes multiple times a day! I never know what to wear!  Yesterday my son and I took a 5 mile walk and I wore a sweatshirt.  Today I woke up to snow.  Then no snow. Then more snow. The doodle doggies just look at me like - this again?! We literally don't know what the weather will be from one hour to the next.  I am prepared however - I have my sandals AND my winter snow boots by the back door.  I am ready! Green! White! Green! White! ACK!

3 Day Weekend - YAY!

Happy President's Day! Today is an AWESOME Monday because President's Day means 3 Day Weekend! My son doesn't have school and is home all day long.  I LOVE no school days almost as much as my son does.  It feels like a gift to be given a whole extra day with him.  He has been a great help all weekend and has been carrying most of the workload while Mr. Yesteryear Acres recuperates from his back injury.  Today we made quick work of our chore list and even got the puppy pictures done on time. If we are really lucky, we are taking a super long walk together with a couple of doodle doggies. I can't wait!
Here are this week's adorable puppy pictures:

Eloise's Double Doodle Babies are so loveable

You can't help but snuggle with them all the time

They start solid foods this week and will really start to grow

Olive's Babies are doing great

Their ears and eyes are now open so everything is interesting

Even Napping

Which is their favorite thing to do

Sleep tight sweet Caramel Babies!

Happy Monday!

Fear

My younger daughter finally made it back to her host family home. She had quite the awful week and I have never been so relieved to hear she made it back safely. The pickpocket incident in Spain left her feeling quite vulnerable.  No phone.  No rail pass. No feeling of security.  Then she was SO sick with food poisoning. She couldn't keep anything down at all for over 24 hours.  Then sadly, my daughter and her friend missed a bus connection due to the stolen rail pass, ended up 4 hours out of their way, late at night, all the while desperate to get back "home".  Near the end of their journey, her friend had her backpack stolen.  She lost everything - all her clothes, her glasses, her souvenirs - all gone.  It happened in an instant too.  They were riding on a train and their backpacks were on the rack right above their heads.  Some man leaned into my daughter's friend, his coat in her face, and in that instant grabbed her backpack and ran. To say this was a nightmare of a trip would be an understatement.  It was really awful and has left both of them full of fear.  How can they travel again? How can they go and see all the things they have dreamed of?  How will they ever feel safe again? Fear is a crippling emotion. It is hard to just STOP being afraid but with every positive step forward, fear can be left behind. I am sending some anti-theft items to my daughter to help prevent future incidents from occurring. I purchased some slash proof, chain encased, RFID proofed bags and that should really help keep her things safe.  I also said she needs to keep her sense of adventure.  She needs to keep her sense of wonder.  She cannot let the one bad week rob her of all that awaits.

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.  ~Mary Manin Morrissey

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.  ~Bill Cosby

To fear is one thing.  To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.  ~Katherine Paterson

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear.  ~Rosa Parks

By the end of our email chatting, she was feeling better. She feels prepared to tackle the world once again.  As for me.....only 4 more months until June.....When she is back home....safe and sound.

Excellent Music Choice

One of the nice things about me doing all the farm chores is that my doodle doggies and puppies and horsies got to hear MY music.  I am not saying that Mr. Yesteryear Acres has BAD music - I am just saying he has the exact same music EVERY single day.  He and my son are major Country Music fans and they always listen to country.  If you play a Country radio station, I guarantee that within 2 hours you will have had every song repeated at least 3 times.  It is the same 20 songs again and again and again.  POOR DOGGIES!  No variety!  I was there to save the day! I was there to play a little bit of everything. I could tell they really liked my musical selection.  They were particularly fond of my singing as well.  Doodle doggies make the best audience.  It didn't matter what song I was singing to them, you could see they really loved it.  Their tails were wagging and they were "singing" along with me.  I did an excellent job with the "waste management" and just got the last of the doodle droppings picked up when the snow really started to fall. Within the hour - everything was blanketed in a fresh white snow.  It was as if Yesteryear Acres was saying, "thank you for cleaning and taking care of the doodle doggies and doing all the farm chores while playing your most awesome music selection.......here's your reward".  So pretty.  So grateful.  So peaceful. Best reward ever.

Am I Alexander?

Remember the book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad day?" Alexander had a day where nothing went right.  Poor Alexander. It looks as if Yesteryear Acres is following Alexander's day.  The phone woke us up early this morning and my younger daughter has a horrible case of food poisoning.  She has been throwing up constantly and she even threw up all over the train station.  She is so sick, so sad, and also feels awful about throwing up all over the train station floor. She went to the pharmacy to get medication and that has brought no relief.  She has the chills and probably a fever and is flat out sick. She has to travel all day and the only support I can give her from so far away is to tell her to bring lots of trash bags so she can throw up in the bags.  Sigh.  Pick pocketed and food poisoning. Guess when I said she would have all kinds of experiences traveling through Europe - I really meant it. I feel so bad having her so miserable so far away from home. She is sick, scared, and sad which is something no mommy ever wants for their child. I wish I could make her feel better.
After we hung up the phone, I wondered why Mr. Yesteryear Acres wasn't moving.  He has really hurt his back.  He moved some firewood yesterday and he forgot to tighten his back brace before he picked up a very big log and he felt his back go.  Today, he can barely walk.  He is in a lot of pain.  I have everything he needs all set up and he will have to rest all day and probably all weekend as well.  I will have to find a good DVD or two to keep him still.  He isn't one to do nothing but I am fairly certain the pain will keep him from moving.  Looks like I am on double duty today. Farm chores, puppy chores, house chores, hurt husband chores.....make that quadruple duty.
After I got Mr. Yesteryear Acres all set I went downstairs to let out the dogs and oh no.  Olive accidentally laid on one of her puppies last night.  We lost a chocolate girl. Olive looked so sad. You can tell she feels awful. I feel awful.  Poor puppy. It is one of the hardest parts about raising doggies.  Sometimes sad heart-wrenching things happen.  I had to give Olive some extra love and tell her I know she didn't mean to. Sigh.  All of this and it is only 9:30am.  I think I am in for one long day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is day devoted to love.  Often Valentine's Day is looked upon as a holiday that only celebrates the love of a significant other but it is so much more.  Valentine's day is about love. Love of your children.  Love of your doodle doggies.  Love of your family.  Love of your life! I think it is a great day to tell everyone that is important to you, how much they mean to you.  Happy YOU ARE REALLY SPECIAL AND IMPORTANT TO ME Day!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres and I are going to try and do something really out of the ordinary later today.  We are going to try and ....do NOTHING.  This doesn't happen very often.  Our plan? To try and catch up on some of the TV episodes we have recorded on our DVR.  First up......we want to watch the valentine's day episode of NCIS........from 2012!  Yes we are about 26 episodes behind!  That's how things are here at Yesteryear Acres.  We are always busy with doodle things but we are also always appreciated.  Just look at what I got from my doodle doggies this morning:

It said "Will you be my doodle buddy?"

Awwww.  Of course!  I hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful and you get to spend your day with those you love!

Pick Pocket Person- NOT NICE!

Our phone rang yesterday morning at 5am which usually means school is delayed or closed but the roads were clear and it didn't look like there was any chance of a school delay.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres was the first to answer the phone but no one was there.  He crawled  back into  bed with both of us thinking how NOT nice it was for someone to call us at that hour.  Just as we finished that thought, the phone rang again. My younger daughter was on the other end sobbing.  She is in Spain right now and had been pick pocketed.  Her iphone was stolen as was her rail pass. All her pictures are gone. All her videos from Europe are gone.  All her contacts.  She feels so violated.  A piece of her was stolen.  I assured her that the memories of those things still remain and the phone - is just a phone.  It is a thing that can be replaced.  As long as she was safe - nothing else in the world matters. The rest of my day was spent changing passwords, canceling accounts and my favorite favorite favorite thing in the world.....spending hours on the phone with the cell phone company. The end result - no the phone was not covered against theft.  If it were broken, they would fix it. But stolen? No.  That is not a good reason for a replacement.  AND no one in my family is eligible for a replacement/upgrade/swap.  AND if I want a phone - it will cost FULL retail price.  Oh Joy.  I spent several hours going through various options on cost cutting and circumventing the phone issue but in the end, my daughter needs a phone.  In the end, making things work around the phone issue just didn't solve anything. In the end, my wallet is empty. Of course- it is just a thing.  Things can be replaced and so, hers has been replaced.  I stayed up until 1:00am loading her phone with what she needs because........she did NOT back up her phone.  I am going to wait before I give her that lecture. I just downloaded each previously purchased item.....one......by.......one......all.......night.......long.  I am fairly sure I get the mom award for that.  I even put pictures of us on her phone and of her doodle doggies and of things she loved so when she gets the phone and turns it on, she will smile.  Hopefully it will be less painful than looking at an empty picture folder. I got the phone all packed up and was at the post office first thing this morning. Hopefully it will make it there safe and sound.  And more importantly, hopefully my daughter can continue to enjoy the beauty of Europe. Stay safe my sweet daughter!