Videos of Enchantment 5.20.10

Just uploaded a slew:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmyC63

Mrs. B

We're Home!

Arrived safely back in Durham around 1:30 this afternoon. All is fine here; cats sure happy to see us and Uncle Jon took good care of them as it seems there was minimal disruption!

We'll get Lucy on Tuesday. She ended up having a minor surgery the Friday after we sailed; our vet felt he needed to stitch the wound site back up fearing if he didn't, he would take forever to scab over/heal. Lucy's Grammy talked with the vet several times while we were gone and she's doing just fine. Hopefully the 12 days she was boarding there after the surgery will mean she's on the mend for good now. We certainly hope so; both for her sake and all of our sakes.

I do have many, many pictures (and videos) to get pulled together and post. In the meantime, here is one of us on the 2nd night on board; 5.21.10. It was the first of two formal nights. This was our table for the duration of the cruise; a nice quiet one in the back near a window. Not a lot of action going on back there, which was fine with us. We'd originally been seated at a table for TWELVE in the middle of the dining room. Mr. B talked to the head waiter and was able to get us reassigned to this one.

The B's at sea 5.21.10 First Formal Night

More soon. Race Day tomorrow/party at mom and dad's so no further postings until Monday or Tuesday!

Mrs. B

Gone Sailing!

Anniversary Bling-Bling

Mr. B surprised me with this beauty (well, this is a very close image of it; I tried and tried to take a picture of my actual ring but just couldn't get the light right).

I'm having fun figuring out the best way to wear it; by itself, with my band, with my engagement ring, all three together, what stacking order, etc.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!!!

Mrs. B

Anniversary Dinner at Magnolia Grill

I try to make sure there is a picture of us on each of our anniversaries. This one was taken the night before, so, not technically the right day BUT it was taken during the celebration of our 5th anniversary, so, it counts, right?

As usual, dinner was fantastic. Oh, but the next day, my sweetie had a stupendous surprise for yours truly; yes, I was speechless (for a few seconds, anyway!) Something incredibly special to commemorate our 5th year of marriage.

More on that next posting, which will have to be tomorrow am (or sooner) as we are leaving tomorrow pm for Norfolk. YEY!!!!! Although, my count down widget isn't exactly right; we sail in TWO days,not one, but, hey, close enough for me!

Mrs. B

Wedding Day Memories

I know I've posted this before, but, since it is our 5th anniversary today, I think it's well worth another post! A dear friend commented to me when she first met Mr. B; "Sweetie! He's WONDERFUL! You make sure you marry that man!" And so, on May 16th 2005 at 5:16 pm, I did. And thus began the journey into the best years of my life.

Mrs. B

May 16th, 2005

We ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, then went off to find our wedding site on nearby Folly Beach. It really is a good thing that we went to search for it prior to the ceremony as it wasn’t exactly easy to find. But, find it we did, after a few minutes of searching and back-tracking. We parked and walked the short trail to the beach itself; I took several pictures of the general area while Mark walked about (he ended up in several of the shots; there are a few where he looks quite pensive; hopefully not thinking about running away!) At that point in time, the weather was quite fine although there was the ominous threat of thunderclouds hanging in the sky.

Mark strolls along Folly Beach the morning of our Wedding Day

After we satisfied ourselves that the location would do perfectly well for our wedding ceremony, we headed back towards Charleston (via a gas station) to look for a place to get flowers for my hair. We tried one place near to the hotel but they were closed. With a bit of trepidation that we might not find one open, we headed back towards Folly Beach via Calhoun St. and found an open florist shop. We went in and managed to order a few orchids; the owner needed about 15 minutes to do them up so we walked down to a Starbucks and each had a caramel frozen coffee drink (mine light, Mark’s fully loaded!) We walked back to the florist and the flowers were ready; beautiful pure white orchids with vivid purple centers. So delicate; but, we were assured that they would last quite some time before they wilted.

As we were paying for the flowers, a small collie dog came bounding into the room; pretty active given she looked sort of aged; as the owner rang up our sale, the dog started to bark furiously; turns out she doesn’t like the sound of the cash register, also turns out her name was... Amy!

We went back to The Vendue Inn and relaxed for a few hours. At this point, I was actually starting to get a tad unsettled and nervous. So, Mark poured me a glass of red wine and assured me that all would be okay. I felt a bit calmer after that; enough so that I could read a bit while he checked email and, then, showered and got ready. He left me about 1:30; book in hand, headed up to The Rooftop Bar to hang out for 2 ½ hours while my transformation was in process.

Juliet Jones arrived and began working on my hair. She chattered pretty much non-stop, which was likely a very good thing since it had started to pour down rain; thunder, lightening, the whole nine yards. Since she kept talking, it was easy for me to be distracted; it was a pleasant, light-hearted conversation about various subjects; I’m grateful that she was so gregarious. As was Leslie Moore, the make-up artist, who arrived around 2:45 just as Juliet was finishing up with my hair. Between the two of them, I hardly noticed the deluge that was going on outside my window.

My elaborate Wedding Day hair!

Upstairs in The Rooftop Bar, Mark and his fellow patrons, the waitress and the bartender, were all keeping an eye on the Weather Channel. They all assured Mark that the storm would indeed blow off shore as the Weather Channel was reporting. Around 3:00, Mark called me to tell me this (he was worried that I’d be freaking out about the storm; he had no way of knowing, of course, that the beautification ladies were doing their best to keep me completely oblivious to the storm).

After Mark called, Leslie finished up my make-up and helped me get into my dress. After she left, I called Mark to tell him I was done but got his voice mail. I will admit to having one brief moment of panic; what if he left? What if he got hit by a car (how this would happen atop The Rooftop Bar, I have no clue), but, within a few minutes, I heard him coming into the door to our room and sighed a sigh of relief.

He seemed quite pleased with my appearance; I felt a bit shy about everything; my nerves came back full force and it was time to hit the bathroom one more time before leaving.

Thank God that I did; while in there, I happened to notice that my dress had one of those ink-tags in it; you know, the ones that explode when they get wet and spread a hideous ink stain over the garment which cannot be removed. A deterrent for would be dress-thieves, I suppose. Well, since we were about to head out into a rain storm…I shuddered to think of the disaster I had just escaped.

But, no scissors! So, Mark had to cut the tag out with a pair of nail clippers.

With that drama behind us, we left the room and went down to await our car. The rain was still coming down hard so we borrowed a large umbrella from The Vendue Inn.

Off we went!

The short drive to Folly Island was probably the worst part (if I can even say we had a worst part) of our wedding day. I say this as, there was a lot of traffic in Charleston, tons of tourists walking across the street willy-nilly, plus the rain; it all combined to make it a harrowing drive. Then, as we approached the access road leading to the island, there was a TON of stopped traffic; people weaving in and out, changing lanes, etc. Once we got onto Folly Beach Road, the traffic came to a dead stop and I started to get antsy thinking about the people that would be waiting for us at the wedding site (a look at the clock told me it was 4;45 and another look at the traffic indicated we’d not make it there in 15 minutes).

So, I called Mary Ann from A Charleston Beach Wedding to inform her we were stuck on Folly Beach Road. She said, “Oh yes, I came through there about 20 minutes ago and it was a mad house!” She told me that, further on up the road, the road itself was flooded (GREAT) and that was causing the delay. She asked for me to call her once we got onto the island itself and she’d leave the house to meet us.

Right about that point in time, a purple PT Cruiser pulled out in front of us; but for the grace of God, we would have been in a wreck on our wedding day.

As it was, we weren’t, but, all of this wasn’t doing much to calm my somewhat frazzled nerves!

We got to the point where the road was flooded (not so bad as the traffic piling up behind it) and made quick time from there. I called Mary Ann back; she said, “Okay, I’ll gather up my things and meet you!” I hung up wondering, “What about the officiant and the photographer?” I started to get paranoid; were we supposed to arrange for an officiant? No, I couldn’t imagine we’d pay almost $500 and have to also coordinate our own officiant! But, as I was starting to get worked up, so, anything made sense, even things that really don’t make sense at all. Mark maintained his cool, and did his best to keep me calm and collected.

We pulled up to the wedding site (with me breathing a prayer of thanks to the wedding God that a) we’d had the sense to go out previously in the morning and locate the spot and b) there weren’t a ton of cars in the parking lot) and parked. As we got out and looked towards the ocean, it was apparent that there was no rain anywhere near in sight; a very positive sign! A few minutes later, Mary Ann pulled up. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn (by observation, not by being informed) that she was IT; the coordinator, the florist, the officiant AND the photographer.

Mary Ann can best be described as “beachy-funky granola-crunchy’; she’d fit in perfectly in either Carrboro (or Santa Cruz, CA) and, as far as I know, might use a pen name (she said she was a writer, on top of many other things) such as “Willow” or “Storm”. In any case, she DID have a very calming affect on me; her kind face put me instantly at ease.

My bouquet was comprised of all white flowers; lilies, roses, carnations, with a splash of purple freesia (my request, as purple is Mark’s favorite color). They were quite lovely, and very fragrant. Mark’s boutonnière had a white rose and purple freesia.

My Bouquet

We walked the short, sandy path to the beach; Mary Ann asked Mark where he wanted to stand. We moved a bit closer to the water’s edge, we faced the water, she faced us, and began the ceremony.

I knew from pre-reading it that it would be a short; I thought maybe 15 minutes. Boy, was I wrong! Within 5 minutes we were exchanging rings and the deed was done; barely enough time to work up a good cry!

But, the speed of the act in no way took away from its power and impact. To some degree, it was surreal. But, I took away from it a few vivid memories.

The wind was blowing slightly and I could see and hear the waves lapping against the sand. Mark and I alternatively looked at one another, then at Mary Ann, who, even though she was definitely present, it didn’t feel as if she was really there. There was no one else on the beach at first (although a lone surfer-dude did amble onto the beach about mid-way through the ceremony; he had the good grace to lay down on the sand far enough away as to not be intrusive) so, it truly felt as though we were alone in the sight of God and nature; just the two of us making a commitment to one another that was stronger than any commitment we’d ever made before in our lives. The words of the vows fit in perfectly with the surroundings, and, even more importantly, our intent.

As we exchanged our rings, the sun came out to shine on us; and, I’d dare anyone one of you reading this to challenge our belief that God, or a spirit, or whatever or whomever, was smiling on us that day.

The rings slid on easily, we had our first kiss as man and wife, and, we were married; Mr. and Mrs. Mark B.

The B's on their Wedding Day

After pictures, we walked back to her car (after being congratulated by a few people that had wandered onto the beach and witnessed the photography session, as well as the surfer-dude) and took care of the necessary paperwork.

After a hug and farewells, Mary Ann got into her car and drove away and we headed back to the BMW. Luckily, we’d had the forethought to take a hand towel from The Vendue Inn to wipe off our sandy feet. Since Mark left he shoes on, I had the towel to myself!

Off we went back to Charleston; as we were leaving Folly Island, Mark spotted a painted sign on a billboard that read, “Amy, will you marry me?” Another appropriately perfect sign, we felt, that our marriage was meant to be!

"The" Sign!

When we got back to The Vendue Inn, Mark carried me over the threshold into our room. He plunked me onto the bed and promptly took a picture of me.

The newly made Mrs. B!

We had just enough time to freshen up before our horse-drawn carriage was set to pick us up outside of the hotel.

We went downstairs and the carriage was already there. Unfortunately, it was raining again (thank God not a downpour but a steady mist) so we were not able to put the top to the carriage down. But, it was romantic all the same being drawn through the streets of Charleston’s historic district, holding hands, holding my bouquet, with the smiles and waves from people on the street warming us up inside. It’s amazing how happy people are to see other people happy!

In all honesty, though, I have to admit to being somewhat in a daze during that ride! I recall the driver talking pretty much nonstop about this and that about Charleston; some of it stuck, but not much.

He dropped us off at 7:00 pm for our dinner RSVP at S.N.O.B (Slightly North of Broad) where we were shown to a prime table towards the back of the restaurant. Mark had had the forethought to request this table when he made the dinner RSVP several weeks prior; we thought we were getting the same table we sat at last May, but, we got the table directly across from it. No matter, it was cozier, anyway, and still offered a wonderful view of the goings-on in both the open kitchen and the rest of the restaurant.

No sooner had we sat down than the server came over, and, upon spotting my bouquet, she said, “You look very nice this evening…is this your wedding day?” We smiled and said yes, and, within a few minutes, we were brought complimentary flutes of champagne. A very nice touch!We really took our time at our wedding dinner; after the champagne, we had martinis, then ordered and split an appetizer (goat cheese and pesto crostini), a salad (caramelized pear with walnuts, bleu cheese and field greens) and then our main entrées; Mark had salmon, I had grouper. Mark ordered a ½ bottle of a very unique and tasty Zinfandel, and we finished it all off with sharing a decadent key lime tart with passion fruit.

At Our Wedding Dinner

After dinner, we strolled back to The Vendue Inn (a mere five minutes away) and, upon entering our room, discovered a bottle of champagne chilling on ice, compliments of the hotel! Mark had already put our own bottle of champagne on ice (the sister bottle to the one we drank on the night he proposed), so, we saved the hotel’s gift for the next night.

When I took off my wedding dress, I discovered that I’d never cut the price tags out, so, I got married advertising (or soliciting?) a price!

Mark turned on the fireplace, poured the champagne, and…the stage goes dark…

Welcome Home, Goosie

After spending an unexpected but for the best week + stay at the vet, Lucy came home this afternoon. She looks so much better! Although the wound is still scary to look at, it IS sealing/scabbing over. Yeah, she still has a ton of meds to take twice a day and now we get to put some goop on her wound as well, but, hey, at least she's back AND we don't have to keep her quite so calm and contained.

The moment we got home, we went for a long walk. I took off her cone so she could enjoy the air and sunshine. She was really, really happy to be out walking. I took this picture when we came back inside before I put the cone back on. She's not quite back to her usual goof-ball smiling self, but, she's getting there!

Mrs. B

Mother's Day 2010

We had a nice time over at Nathaniel and Analee's house visiting with them (again; they were over at our house Friday night) their kids, mom and dad and Mister Steve. Also, Analee's mom and dad were there and we all enjoyed sangria, margaritas, taco dip and Mexican salad and lasagna. And, oh yeah; to die for Mexican chocolate cookies.

Anyway, Analee was acting the photographer and took couples shots. Here is one of The B's that I particularly like. I think there are a few more, but, I like this candid shot of us laughing and having a great time!

Mrs. B

I'm Officially Excited!

For whatever reason, the excitement regarding our upcoming cruise has kicked in to over drive today. Seriously, I'm officially EXCITED!

I spent some time this morning (BTW, it's a real low-mo kind of day) Googling our ship, Enchantment of the Seas, and found a bunch of pictures. Here are three:

Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas

Enchantment as she was being "stretched" May 2005 Kinda cool, huh?

This was taken in Norfolk a few days ago

I also found a video a week ago of a Carnival Ship colliding with our ship in Mexico. Unfortunately, it's too large of a video file to upload but you can find it on You Tube by searing for the ship.

Anyway, as you can see by my countdown widget, we're rapidly approaching our embarkation! And, really, our vacation starts a day earlier as we'll be driving up to Norfolk to spend the night at a B&B so we'll be super close to the pier when it comes time to get on and set sail!

Mrs. B

Silly Survey

I wanted to blog something; but, didn't really want to come up with anything on my own. My brain power is currently being used by two other projects. So, I actually Googled "Silly Surveys" and came up with this one, posted by someone else on Blogger back in 2007. The Blog is "Ramblings of an Awkward Mind" with the subtitle, "Getting the thoughts out of my head". The author is a lady in FL; unfortunately, she's not blogging much anymore.

Anyway, courtesy of "Awkward", here is a different survey!

Mrs. B

1. What's the last mistake you made? Trying on bathing suits after eating lunch.

2. Is the sun shining?
Yes; it’s gonna be a hot one today!

3. Can you successfully blow up and tie a balloon?
With difficulty. I much prefer using helium; so much more enjoyable to have fun with the cartoon voices!

4. Do you like text messaging?
I do. But, I promised Mr. B I’d not do it while on vacation (too distracting).

5. What do you eat the most at your best friend’s house?
Hmmm, interesting question and not sure how to answer it since I have several “best friends” and none of them live anywhere close by.

7. Are you wearing any make-up right now?
Nope; still sitting here drinking coffee in the am. I might not put any on today at all.

8. What are your plans for later?
Later as in “later on today” or later as in, well, infinitely later? I’ll take the easy route! Later on today I plan to: work out, finish reviewing my client’s offer packages, go to BJs, maybe get a manicure, go to the library to pick up a book they’ve got on hold for me and move more things into the guest bedroom that I plan to take on our cruise. Oh, and enjoy a martini with Mr. B tonight and make homemade pizza for dinner.

9. What is your favorite DDR song?
I have no idea because I have no clue who or what DDR is.

10. Is there any drama within your life?
Dog drama.

11. What is a song they need to stop playing on the radio?
Christmas carols in, like, as early as October. Give me a break.

12. Are you happy with life right now?
Relatively. I’m jazzed about going on vacation in less than two weeks. I’m a bit worried about a few things, but, everything always seems to work out in the end.

13. Does anyone like you?
I sure hope so!

14. What is your current obsession?
Counting calories.

15. Do you have a dog?
Do I ever.

16. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
You know what, I don’t think so!

17. Would you ever smile at a stranger?
I have done so and will likely do so again.

18. Ever pulled your pants down in the street?
Snort. No!

19. Do your toenails have nail polish on them?
Yeah, but, they’re in serious need of a pedicure and fresh polish.

20. When's the last time you wore eyeliner?
I don’t wear it that much so I don’t remember. I can never get the lines straight.

21. Last curse word you said was?
Ask Mr. B!

22. Are your lips chapped? Sort of.

23. Are you currently jealous?
Am I currently jealous? Well, I could likely think of things/people I might be envious of, but, jealous? No.

24. Do you own an ipod?
Yes but I haven’t updated the songs on it in ages and I’m really getting tired of what’s on there. Problem is; the software is off my lap top, can’t remember my password to download it; so, I’m stuck with about 215 songs that I now hate.

25. Did you have a dream last night?
I ALWAYS dream. I usually remember them, too; but, now that I am trying to recall them, they are eluding me.

26. Are you mad at anyone?
Nope.

27. Who is the loudest person you know?
Probably Peri (and that is not an insult, Peri; but, you sure can be boisterous!)

28. What's going on this weekend?
Maybe a Bulls game tomorrow and over to my brother and sister in laws Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day with them and mom and dad. Oh, and to drink margaritas and sangria and eat a belated Cinco de Mayo feast.

29. Done any spring cleaning lately?
Not enough but I’m waiting until after the dog recuperates/we get home from vacation because I know the cats are going to completely destroy the house while we are gone.

30. Anything bothering you?
Mostly, I am worried about the dog.

31. Do you do cheerleading?
Now, that’s rich! Ha ha ha ha!

32. Did you wish for anything last night on 11:11?
I did not specifically wish for anything last night “on” 11:11. I may have been reading.

33. Do you drink coffee on a regular basis? Silly question. Daily.

34. Do you wish you were someone else?
No, I am finally good at being me.

35. What jewelry are you wearing?
Wedding band.

36. Funniest thing that happened last night?
Watching the kid’s classmates in their senior play, “Noises Off”. A few of them were absolutely hysterical!

38. Are you easily amused?
No. But, some of these questions sure are amusing (see below)!

39. Can you lick your elbow?
No (and yes, I just tried to).

40. Do you know this song, "we stay fly no lie you know this"?
Uh, no.

Rambling

The recent bout of humid weather has gone straight to my brain. That, and a week of tending to a dog with a huge divot in her leg which continually leaks gross stuff and a cone on her head which she continually rams into my legs. Seriously, you never realize how much a dog follows you around until they're wearing a bucket on their head.

Speaking of Lucy, she's back at the vet this morning to have her drain checked/re-arranged and to have some stitches replaced. Turns out when we left her alone Saturday, she ripped some of them out. How? Well, we thought we were being smart by turning the sofa in the sun room around so that she couldn't jump up on to it. We put her bed, some blankets, etc. out there for her, along with her big bowl of water and her Kong stuffed with goodies. When we returned from an afternoon of wine tasting and browsing at a pottery festival

I bought a garlic keeper (that is a dragonfly motif)

And a hand painted sugar and creamer set. This just made me smile!

with mom and dad (and a late lunch/early dinner), she seemed just fine. I did wonder why there was no goop on her towels or blankets, but, hoped that meant she was winding up the draining process. Then, on our walk Sunday, I realized I could see the drain. I don't mean either end, I mean THE ENTIRE DRAIN! Later, Mr. B was out in the sun room and noticed that there was "Goosie Gravy" on one of the cushions on the couch (which he couldn't get completely off which just bumped "reupholster the sun room couch" up on the hit parade) so we figured out that she must have jumped over the BACK of the couch; hence, tearing out her stitches.

Suffice it to say, the vet took one look at both the incision site AND Lucy ping ponging off the walls and suggested we keep her sedated for awhile "to give it a chance to heal". She may (or may not) have cancer but you'd never know it from her behavior. Crazy dog.

So, now I'm home with time on my hands; freedom to do a few things without trying to keep Lucy from following me around, climbing stairs, jumping up on couches, and smacking me a thousand times a day with that damn cone. I'm about ready to go upstairs and get a good work out in and then vacuum the carpet. I might groom the cats (they've been a bit ignored of late) and maybe even take a nap.

We are less than three weeks away from our cruise and needless to say, it cannot come soon enough for either one of us. Mr. B is still struggling a bit with the after effects of busy season plus, like me, dealing with Lucy. Neither one of us have been sleeping terribly well, either. Lots on our minds, and not just the dog. He's got a kid who is about a month and a half from graduating from high school, turning 18 and going off to college later this summer, which, although they don't really change our lives any, they are life changing moments for her and for him. Milestones. Me, I'm just worried about the dog. Oh, and the carbon monoxide monitor went off in the middle of the night last night; beeping away for a few seconds, causing the dog to jump off the bed (not good) and us to lay there wondering if there was a real problem or if the monitor is defective. Well, it stopped beeping and we're all still alive, so, there is the answer. Still, now I'm going to call the alarm company and have them install a monitor through the system (along with a cellular back up). I kept meaning to do this; now I will.

So, I'm doodling around on Facebook this am and stumbled across some pictures someone from my high school had posted of a picnic held yesterday that many alumni attended (I, of course, could not since I am in NC and it was in CA). There was a picture (or two) of this one chick named Suanne who I never really much cared for but the boys loved her because she had big tits, a large ass, and was, as my friend Peri put it, "Sorta dumb, so, an adolescent boys dream come true". What I remember about her (other than I didn't like her and she was a complete and total bitch at the 10 year reunion (despite the fact she won an "award" for being the alumni with the most kids at the time; five at age 27; you get awards for THAT?)) was at senior camp, the guys stole a pair of her panties and hoisted them up the flag pole. They then stood around the flag pole and paid homage to the panties by bowing repeatedly while chanting "Suanne! Suanne! Suanne!" over and over again.

Anyway, I about fell of my chair when I saw this picture of her because she looked absolutely dreadful. I mean, awful. The saying "like death warmed over" comes to mind. I suppose there is a chance she's ill, in which case I probably shouldn't be gossiping about her looks, but, still. She easily looks 15 to 20 years older than most of us; those five kids of hers (maybe more, who knows) have maybe given her a hard life.

Tonight is my book club meeting. I was going to host it, but, wisely, begged off due to Lucy. So, we'll meet at a local Italian restaurant (half off bottles of wine Monday night) instead. We're discussion "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. It should be a lively discussion as it appears some really, really liked it and others (like me) felt betrayed by the ending. I watched the movie version of it the other day and, for once, the movie was better than the book.

Mr. B will probably meet The Kid somewhere for dinner, that is, unless Lucy requires supervision (assuming she comes home this afternoon).

In general, I have a busy week ahead of me. So, I'd best get to it!

Mrs. B

Lucy Update

Smarty Goosie (ya gotta keep your sense of humor!)

We got the results from the path. Not exactly what we'd hoped for as it was a Grade 2 (malignant) tumor. The good news is, though, that our vet is feeling really good that he got it all (he had great margins; clean).

What this all means is that particular tumor is gone. There is still a chance that, since the tumor was so quick growing, it may have metastasized into her blood, which would not be good as then it would spread to her (likely) spleen, liver, nodes or bones.

But, we won't know that unless we put her through a ton of very expensive tests.

There is also a chance she may develop a new tumor in the same place or somewhere else.

So, there are percentages that say this and that; the bottom line is, we're hoping for the best.

We'll talk to our vet in a week (when the staples/sutures come out) about on-going treatment options, if any. He mentioned chemo as a possibility but that has its own risks and complications and it may not even be necessary.

Mr. B and I are pondering/musing/discussing, but, right now, our general sense is that we don't want Lucy to spend any more time than is necessary with a cone on her head, feeling miserable, wearing diapers, throwing up, being contained, unable to run and play in her backyard, etc. We think we'd rather let her live out the life she has left (and we are certainly hoping she'll be in the relatively high percentage of dogs that survive long-term a Grade 2) having fun and being the lovable Goosie that she is.

We'll keep y'all posted after we meet with the vet the week of the 9th.

In the meantime, thank you for all of your love and support. It really does mean a lot. Lucy thanks you, too.

Mr. and Mrs. B