The 50's Housewife Project

Recently, I came across this blog, called "The 50's Housewife Project." It doesn't have NEAR the following that I think it should, so I decided I would start my own little "project".

I've really changed in my way of thinking over the years, and even more-so since meeting J. In my previous relationship (nightmare), I really could take or leave the thought of cooking and cleaning. But then again, my home, was not really *my* home. I had to share it with a she-devil (his mother) who made my life a living hell. She made me never want to clean, or cook anything. Anything I ever did, was never good enough. I'll never forget one time when we first moved into the house we were renting, I couldn't sleep one night and decided to stay up and scrub the kitchen from top to bottom. The microwave was particularly bad so I scrubbed it down until it was sparkling. The next morning she had said not a word to me. So finally I said "Did ya see the kitchen?! I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to scrub it". Her response was "Yeah I saw it. I don't know what you did that for, you know I keep an immaculate kitchen." From that moment on, I vowed to never lift another finger to help this woman again. And I didn't.

Now that I am a SAHM, and have discovered I have a knack for cooking and (sometimes) baking, I really want to hone these skills and become a modern day 50's housewife. It won't be easy. Mackenzie will make it challenging. Even though she is getting older, she is still not sitting up on her own yet, so it's not as if I can just set her in a Pack n Play and let her entertain herself while I get stuff done. She is also in a "mommy mommy mommy, I want mommy and ONLY mommy!" stage and she wants/needs my constant attention and entertainment. On the weekends when I ask J to watch her while I get things done, after the first couple hours he looks at me all frazzled and says "I don't know how you do it all day, everyday!" I laugh at this because sometimes during the week, he'll come home from a long day at work and NOTHING will be done around the house. Laundry will be piled high, dishes will be in the sink, things strewn about the house. And he'll get aggravated and ask me why nothing is done. And it isn't until the weekend, that he is reminded WHY sometimes this happens.

But this project, I guess, is to sort of help me be able to learn to cope with being a homemaker and a mom at the same time. One day at a time. There is a program, called the FlyLady program from FlyLady.net. It's basically a program to help people stay organized, one step at a time. For instance, day 1 is to just shine your sink. This program has a lot of success, but for me I don't know. I am the type of person that if I am going to do something, I want to do it ALL the way. I can't just shine my sink. I want the whole house to shine. I'm impatient like that I guess.

I hear Kenzie doing her high-pitched scream, and Daddy getting annoyed. Mom to the rescue!!!

Lucky Cash

This is Lucky-Cash, or Cash as we call him! Our sweet little German Shepard/Lab mix, named after the one and only Johnny Cash. This was taken the day I picked him up from the "rescue" where I got him.

This is Cash just 2 days later. Official diagnoses- Parvovirus. The deadliest disease a puppy can have. Survival rate of only 10% in bad cases.

To read about this horrible disease, go here

I picked him up on a Monday, and by Friday we didn't think he was going to make it at all. He was vomiting all day and all night, not touching his food or water, bloody diarrhea, and all he did all day was sleep.

Most people probably would have put him down. Hospitalization would have been well over a thousand dollars, and there was no guarantee that he would make it, so why bother, right? We couldn't do that to him. He was such a good boy and already a part of our family. Practically completely housebroken...Even with being so sick, he still always whined to let us know when he needed to go out to potty.

Thank God we have an amazing vet who isn't a money-hungry, greedy SOB. He gave us options. First option was hospitalization. Money was no object to save this little guy, but we wanted to see if there were other options first. He suggested that we do everything they would do at the hospital, at home ourselves. AKA...ME doing it all by myself while caring for a 6 month old as
well. It would be an extreme amount of work, but he had faith in me, and I had faith in myself.

So they sent us home with bags of fluid, and all the instruments I would need to administer sub-q fluids. I also had to give anti-nausea injections, an antibiotic, a dewormer, and an antacid. Instructions were to let him rest all day, and only up and about to potty. Also, to give him raw egg through a dropper to help keep his protein up. And lots and lots of cuddling. Thank goodness Parvo isn't contagious to humans! If he didn't respond well to the treatment at home, we had a hospitalization plan in place. The vet said they always get worse before they get better, so we should expect to see a big decline in his health. But if we could get him through it, he should be able to beat this.

By Friday night, we seriously didn't think he was going to make it. It was the decline the vet was talking about. It took a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bite marks, a lot of bleaching, a lot of crate cleaning, a lot of being covered in vomit and diarrhea. It brought me back to the days of caring for my Dad towards the end of his life. But I knew I needed to do it. And I did do it.

Today, Cash, or Lucky Cash as we now call him, is alive and well. He is acting like a normal puppy. Beginning to eat again (bland foods like chicken and rice, cottage cheese, bread, etc...) drinking on his own, jumping around and playing, no vomiting, and solid stools. He not only beat Parvo, he kicked its ass and took its name!

And he knows. I know he knows that we saved his life, because he is just the best dog ever. Never have I had an dog that loves to cuddle so much, and listens so well for only being 10 weeks. I just know he is going to be the most loyal dog in the world. He and Mackenzie already love each other. He is skin and bones right now. He only just started picking at his food on Sunday night. That was the first time he had eaten since the Thursday before. As of today though, he is gobbling up everything he sees. We have to fatten him up!

He will probably have problems with his digestive system for life. Antacids should take care of this though. There is nothing we wouldn't do for this little guy.

So that is his story! Stay tuned for more wonderful puppy adventures!!