Frilly and Funkie Challenge #18 "All Creatures Great and Small"...My ears are named Hunni Pi!

This is a somewhat happy/sad post. Happy because the scare over the weekend of September 15th we had with my “puppy” (she’s 9, but her age doesn’t make her any less my puppy), turned out-so fat- GOOD. She just had a slight case of iron deficiency. Sad, because at the end of the same week (September 20th) I received a text from my Nieces that my oldest brother (my Dad’s Jr/The 2nd of 3 Donald F Rush) was in the ER. He died 2 hours later from sepsis for conditions he just let go too long. This has easily been the toughest summer in a long time. The loss comes just a few weeks after one Wife in our group of Besties lost the battle with cancer.
My heart broke all over again on Thursday night, & had just starting to mend when this caught us all off guard. At this typing, the funeral/Memorial is set for Wednesday & we are currently on a trip to Madison, Indiana (with one set of Besties) that was already paid for, & we won’t be able to be back for it by then. I did do the usual funeral slide show work for all the pictures of Tub from photos our Dad has been putting together in albums for each of us kids. Our Dad been asking me for copies of certain photos that he didn’t have already & I had no idea what he was doing with them. When I got them all after he passed in 2016, it was a very pleasant-yet sad- shock. I’ve been trying to scan/heal & copy them all so no one has only part of them & the Hrands will be able to each have a full copy eventually. So doing all that on short notice was a way of passing on my love for Tub, even tho we hadn’t been close since the late 1990s. That took about 24 hours without sleep- small price to pay indeed- & I am catching up down here along the Ohio River Valley.
    Getting back to this Challenge...Hunni Pi was from a litter of 6 puppies from a Chesapeake Bay Retriever stud and a half-bred bitch. No one wanted the Mom & her yet-to-be-counted pups, so she was dropped off to Anderson’s Veterinary Hospital where our Bestie helped Connie & Ralph (see last post of the Winner Haberdashery Tag Set to explain who they are) deliver them. It just so happened that there were the same number of puppies as siblings in Ralph’s family: hence the nam(Arthur, Charlie, Alphia, Wanda, Waldo, & Imy), & that’s how each pup got their name. One weekend about 8 was later, we were camping w the Besties and they brought three of the pups to puppy sit- among those was the baby runt- Imy. That beautiful blonde little girl toddled over & sat ON my feet. One look up at me (before she fell over backwards)... & that was that: almost as if she’d said “YOU’RE MINE!” in her wittle puppy-voice. We already had a rescued dog, who looked just like her, that was “helping” me hear, Nikki B. Claws. She had found her way to us by ending up on our back doorstep as a stray. Nikki’s barking at anyone around alerted me just fine, but her “attitude” was more like “Run! Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me; I’m the Gingerbread Dog!” NOT helpful. Nikki was in last years since she was probably (according to Vet) about 4 yrs old when she came to us. So the timing of a new pup to train from scratch- was perfect. I look back through all the dogs & cats we’ve raised and see that GOD sent each one just when we needed, or when they needed. So I felt like this was yet another blessing... whereas the ChiefHubby felt another true PUPPY was more of a CURSE...lol! I DID pray about it that night, as he suggested, and at the end of my prayer, my  idea of her name popped up: Hunni Pi. It came from our friends in Birmingham who had 3 Golden Retrievers: Ki, Hunny, & Max. I kept thinking along the lines of “BitOHoney” the candy bar since Imy had a lump on the top of her head due to a hematoma that developed from getting pushed around by her bigger siblings. It seemed she was left from the best choices & I felt she was more like ME in that we both are handicapped. At that time, 2009, we were getting ready to graduate our younger Son from HS & move him into his college years alongside his older Brother. Since both are Honors students w very high Math marks, “Pi” was spelled as such for a nod to them. In between training, draining of the hematoma, & cuddling, HinniPi became the closest companion dog I’ve ever had! I call her “my Velcro Puppy”; always stuck next to me, notifies very well, & is a charmer to all our family & friends, yet a protective ferociousness around anyone she senses I don’t trust! She is; in all honesty- the ears of my body. While I believe I am “fearfully & wonderfully made” as GOD’s creative plan... I am unique in my needs just as EVERYONE is is some way. Mine just happens to include being deaf- along with other rarities & “goodies”... lol! There will come a time when I will need to keep the promise I made to HunniPi... as I have to so many animals in my life... but until that time of her life comes; she & I are enjoying the days as they come.
                     
                   So this Challenge is for you, my PuppiPi, HunniPi !!

With humble THANKS! to all those who commented or liked my last project!!

I am on board to be Guest Designer (for the 3rd time) on

The Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog

for another Challenge coming up in just a couple of weeks.

I'm both excited AND nervous: what could they possibly think up for a theme this time?!

And, don't forget.... PRIZES...courtesy of:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique !

I hope to take in a bit of rest on this mini-vacation, and I'll return to get fired up

for the next Challenge...#19 AND; I hope you'll join us!

BE SAFE & HAPPY BLOGGING!!

Frilly and Funkie challenge #17; Haberdashery..."Fitting For Grandma, and Grandpa, too!"

       September brings us to the end of Summer, but it's also the usual month for Grandparent's Day. I enjoyed my first such holiday last year, but I think this one will be even better since our Wittle Peanut actually recognizes all four of his Grandparents now! I can only see each year getting better as our family grows. This "Grandma thing" really ROCKS! It's like I've been lifted up into this elite group for whom certain things no longer matter (like a little weight gain, or a few more wrinkles) simply because a tiny human causes us to look upon those things as if they were hard-earned solid gold crowns...and they ARE! So, once again, Peanut brings me another Challenge project entry & it goes something like this...
    I first met the other family back when I was about 12, & still in Elementary School - same school corp  & area we've lived for 31 yrs now. The one bringing us together that first time was my CAT. Well...my cat and the spools of thread she ate. Doc Anderson was the veterinarian who saved all 9 of Sizzles' lives. His Assistant/Wife, Connie Anderson, and their future kids, were destined to be a part of our family's lives. The first re-meeting was when our older Son, and their youngest Daughter both started Kindergarten. We found each other attending the same events, as well as being Room Mothers or Helpers with each other's classes. Our younger Son was born in 1992 & had severe asthma. During one of his Dr visits, we had to reschedule- he'd been called out "to deliver the Anderson's twins", which was how we found out it was twin boys- whom we'd meet a couple months later during the GVFD Fish Fry my ChiefHubby & I always worked. The 3 (plus our younger Daughter in law) entered Kindergarten together & all graduated together. The 3 boys were also in Cub Scouts & began Boy Scouts together- of which the ChiefHubby was Pack Cubmaster & Troop Assist Scout Master (while I served as Chairperson & general Go-fer). All of both families' kids were involved in Band starting in the 5th Grade. This meant lots of time spent together- especially when it came to HS Marching Band. The Pioneer Legion of Gold took us all on the road every fall, and gave us quite a few hard-earned great awards at the State contest level- as well as many great memories (including playing for then-sitting President GW Bush)! Then, just as those last kids were graduating in 2010, a litter of half Chesapeake Bay Retrievers were born & a mutual Bestie of ours helped Connie deliver them & name them all after Doc Ralph & his Anderson siblings- 1 of whom was also our other veterinarian & the CH's Grandparents' for years. One of those pups was with our Bestie camping with us & that little blonde, youngest/runt girl they named Imy, toddled over & sat on my feet. She became my next Hearing Helper: Hunni Pi! And there's another story also: one for the Firefighters in our family. Circa 2004...Connie's oldest Daughter was in a serious car accident out on our main highway (mutually used by all families mentioned in this post). Her vehicle was hit as she pulled out of her road, and her very life was ebbing away as her own Dad was sitting in traffic not far away, while on his way home. He recognized the car and went running to it, but was met and told "Tell your Daughter you love her,". No Firefighter, POfficer, or EMS personnel needs to be told the meaning of those words. She was air-lifted away within her "Golden Hour", and she not only lived; she came back from it very successfully and married her Sweatheart (who stood by her throughout all), and is raising THREE of her Mom's Grandchildren! The tie between us in that story? The fact that it was my ChiefHubby who helped lobby and get that Life Flight training for their GVFD just two weeks prior to that very accident- the only one where a helicopter could make a difference in saving a life on that highway. Yes...I still feel the chill of "WOW" in that and am VERY PROUD of the 26 years my ChiefHubby sacrificed time, energy, training, and his very sanity in that job- with never any pay.
     Fast-forward from our younger kids' HS Graduation,  through all our kids' college years & marriages, to the present: Connie now has 6 Grandkids, the last coming just after our Peanut- from classmates (their younger Daughter & our older Son). A few weeks ago, our mutual Bestie passed me a gift from Connie...this book. She'd gotten one herself, and then gotten one for our mutual Bestie. And now, I am the glad receiver of a copy also!  If you aren't familiar with it; it's about how whatever happens Grandma's house... stays at Grandma's!  ;)
 Since I wanted to make a little item for Connie as a "Thank You!" for her lovely (& hilariously true) gift, the Challenge theme of "Haberdashery" was perfect timing. While my own talents do not include more than passive stichery on paper crafts or as clothing repair needs, my mother, Nola, has been a professional sewer all her life. Not a seamstress- who just alters items, but a professional designer/creator. And Connie knows her through not only through past vet care of Nola's pets, but through sewing also. Thus came my idea of a vintage double-sided tag that would date far enough back in design as to for a Grandmother on one side, and a Grandfather on the other. I made two- with each being slightly different, yet similar, to the other. And here's what I ended up with....

                                   The "how to" photos come first:

The finished "Grandma's" sides of each Tag...

                          The closeups will show Tag 1 (left side above) first.

                       These next 2 closeups are both Tags combined in same photo.

                        Now, we have the flip sides (Grandpa's side) of both...

       And again; closeup photos with Grandpa 1 (left side above) followed by Grandpa 2...

Extra photos for the fun of it- so Connie can show them off, or use the photo however she pleases.

    The comments -and compliments- left on my last post (Frilly and Funkie Challenge #16) are so sweet, & greatly inspiring: THANK YOU, ALL! It's another F&FFavorite Badge on my blog wall, and a huge honor to be considered for among so much GIFTED TALENT!! Just when I think I've "seen it all" in paper creation...I get blown away all over again by the ideas brought to paper-life by people who love crafting and sharing it!
    If you haven't tried one of these Challenges on The Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog
you are missing out on some FUN! Who knows: you might even win the drawing for a $25 shopping spree from the Sponsor, The Funkie Junkie Boutique  At the very least, you can learn a few new tricks and make some wonderful new friends because Crafters make the best! Pun totally intended. ;)

   THANKS so very much for taking the time to pop in and allow me to share yet another piece of my life with you. And until next time....
                                               
                                              Be Safe &
                                  HAPPY BLOGGING!!