September 8, 2012: Condo Open House

Mom and I spent March through June picking out flooring, furniture, paint, blinds, etc. for the new condo at at 5670 N. Turning Leaf Way at Stillwater Springs Condos.   
It was alot of work trying to figure out what we wanted.  My mom spent more time than me trying to decide, as I usually know right away whether I like something or not.

I invited many friends and relatives to the official open house of our new home.     

Some of the people who came were: Audrey Apostle, Milly Dreleozis,  Linda Scott, Rhonda Collins, Jim Morse, Melanie Morse, Jasmine Morse, Gabrielle Morse, Kay Tobey, Karen Scriver, Betsy Floyd, Minda Floyd-Schouten, Ron and Joan Morse; George, Marianne, and Joy Gonyo;  Linda and Ben Borgerding, Helen and Paul Thomas, Jeanne and Kevin Reenders, Becky Ruger, Molly Piersema King, Chevella Alviar, Betty and John Westra, Jerry and Harry Stapel. Some others were invited, but were not able to come to the party.  

We had food and drinks for everyone.  Minda brought her Thirty One bags to sell.   Audrey brought her Premier Jewelry to sell, too.   I had a good time at the party and it was so nice to see everyone.   

July 3, 2012: Maggie's Pancreatitis

I decided this morning that I needed to schedule an appointment for Maggie to see the vet, as she had been laying on the floor of the living room for 2 days, not wanting to move, go outside, eat, or drink. Poor thing looked so sad and I didn't know what I could do to take away her pain.

I left work and took Maggie to Clarke Animal Hospital.   The vet technician had a hard time getting Maggie out of her crate. She held on for dear life.   Maggie usually is not like that with people. She is usually excited to see everyone at the vet, so I knew something wasn't right.   The doctor did some blood work and found some elevated enzyme levels in the gall bladder, so she thought it might be that.   She recommended that Maggie get an ultrasound to give them a better idea.    They didn't have the ultrasound equipment there at the vet, so I had to go to the emergency vet, Michigan Veterinarian Specialists, in Grand Rapids on Michigan St.     

We got to Grand Rapids and brought Maggie into the vet.   Maggie had her ultrasound, which took about 2 hours.    Mom and I waited in the waiting room the whole time. There were alot of other dogs at the vet today, probably because of the holiday.

The doctor had me come in the exam room and said that the ultrasound showed nothing wrong with the kidney, liver, or gall bladder, but there was severe inflammation of the pancreas.   She was diagnosed with Pancreatitis, which is a painful gastrointestinal disease.   The vet recommended she be hospitalized for a couple of days.    She would get fed intravenously water and nutrients.  Plus, she would get a plasma transfusion, which is donated from another dog.     I was given the estimate on the cost of $2500 on the low end and $3500 on the high end.  I swear I almost had a heart attack.    I know my mom freaked out at the bill too and her first reaction was to put Maggie down, which is not what I wanted to do, as Maggie is only 8 years old.    We went back to see where Maggie would be staying and she looked so bright eyed which melted my heart. 

Maggie is my baby and I would like to keep her in my life as long as possible, but not put her in a bunch of pain.    It was hard to leave Maggie at the hospital, but I knew she would get good care there.  

Later on, we went to Barnes and Noble and I talked with the girls I sit with there which made me feel a little better. Many of my friends posted on facebook that they were praying for Maggie.   

On our way home, my mom said she felt bad thinking about putting Maggie down, but that she was stressed with not having the closing date on the condo and then me putting out all of this money on Maggie at the vets lately.  She said she would never forget Maggie's bright eyes looking at us at the vet.

I prayed that night before I went to sleep that Maggie would heal and make a full recovery.

June 24, 2012: Becky Stowe

I will never forget the day that I met my friend Becky Stowe.      She was a friend of my friend Molly Piersema's.   We all went out to eat at Red Robin in Grand Rapids.  Since then, we have become great friends.   She now lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.   She loves to watch the same soap operas as I do (Young and the Restless and Bold and the Beautiful).

June 14, 2012: Best Buy and Barry Manilow Concert

I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Geek Squad from Best Buy to come and mount our TVs on the wall.     They spent about 6 hours setting both TVs and the equipment up.    I didn't have my media console for the basement, as that was being delivered the next day, so the guy labeled all of the cords and hooked them up on the floor.   All I would have to do is unhook them and put the equipment in the console when I got it.      

They made several trips to the store to get different cords and such.      The technician programmed our remote controls so we could operate everything from one control which is going to be very nice.    

There was a problem with my sound bar in the basement.  The unit was engineered poorly so when the thicker cord was put on, it kept making the unit fall over.  We went to Best Buy to show them the issue and they couldn't believe it was made that way.  So, the worker said we could return the sound bar and get a different brand. I ended up getting the Samsung soundbar.  Best Buy would have to come out another day to install that equipment which was ok with me.

It was going to be fun to have a 55 inch TV to watch movies on.      I plan to have several movie nights once things get settled down.

In the evening, Betsy, my Mom and I went to see Barry Manilow perform at the VanAndel Arena.   We all had good seats.  He performed a nice show.   

June 13, 2012: Cleaning out apartment

I was dreading cleaning the apartment at Shoreline Landing.  I pulled out all of the nails from the walls, vacuumed, and cleaned the bathroom.     When we were done, we both couldn't believe how dirty the carpeting looked. It didn't look like that when we had furniture in there.    The complex was supposed to replace the carpeting for the next tenant, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't be done by June 15th, when that other person was supposed to be moving into the apartment.  It was nice when we finished cleaning the apartment.   

We did some more organizing around the condo.  

June 12, 2012: Move-in Day at the Stillwater Springs Condo

Our condo builder, Ron Stroup, received the certificate of occupancy, so told us we could move in before the closing date, as he knew we needed to be out of our apartment by June 13th.    That was very nice of him to give us that permission.

My Mom and I started bringing things over this past weekend.   Even though I got rid of a bunch of stuff in January, it still seemed like I had so much.    

I think Maggie was a little confused with what was going on.    

I picked up some furniture I had ordered through Pier 1 Imports.  It sure was nice to have my Honda CRV for hauling it all.   What a blessing!   We made several trips to Pier 1.   

My leather Lazy Boy was delivered early in the morning.   The delivery guys were Hispanic and so funny. They got a kick out of my life size bear sitting in the Lazy Boy.  

I put together my pub table and unpacked the buffet table.  Maggie was trying to get into the styrofoam that was in the boxes.      She seemed to be having so much fun running up and down the stairs.     

It was quite an exhausting day moving all of our stuff.   

The moving van came later in the day to bring our big furniture.      They helped us get our beds put together which was nice.

In the evening, we decided to celebrate by having some popcorn and an ice cream sundae.   I turned on the fireplace to see how that looked.   I will never forget looking out the windows of the 3 season room and looking at the neighboring condos and feeling so blessed that we could live in such a beautiful condo.  

May 31, 2012: Baptism with Maggie and Pastor Jerry Depoy Jr.

I'm not sure if I posted this picture of me and my dog, Maggie, getting baptized in Lake Michigan with Pastor Jerry Depoy Jr., but thought I would post it.    I remember that day like it was yesterday.     I loved my dog so much that I thought I would have her baptized too, as I want to be sure she is saved and goes to heaven like I do.