Coconut Layer Cake

I made my Mom and coconut layer cake for her birthday. The frosting alone had 4 sticks of butter. Yikes!

Rose Garden

I thought I would post more pictures of Yankton's rose garden. These are the roses he planted last year. He had to rent a jackhammer just to plant them as the soil is so rocky. He jack-hammered right throuogh the sprinkler system line (whoops!). But this year, they are growing like mad - blooms all the time - so beautiful.

Roses

Here is the first rose that bloomed in our garden this year. Yankton is in charge of the rose garden. I think he is doing a pretty good job so far!!

Nero vs. The Pollen

The Pollen Wins!

The pollen in San Antonio has been very bad this year. Here are a couple of photos of Nero - he is wondering why I won't let him in.

Nicole's Health Update

I have recently been diagnosed with a chronic auto-immune disease known as Sjogren's Syndrome. This auto-immune disease most likely caused a second (but still very bad) health problem known as Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypothyroidism). Additionally, I have little to no vitamin B-12 in my system.

So...

I take pills for the Sjogren's, pills for the under active thyroid, and shots (yes! shots!!) for the B-12 deficiency.

So, what is the worst part of finding out about all this??? THE BLOOD TESTS! These doctors always want your blood. And how do they get it? By sticking you with needles! It's horrible.

How bad is it when the doctor actually says they are going to put a note in your file saying that you have to be lying down to have your blood drawn? I guess they have gotten tired of my fainting. :-)

I thought I would update in seperate posts exactly what Sjogren's and Hashimoto's is and what it affects. More to come later...

Nero

Nero went to go get his annual vaccinations yesterday. He got 3 vaccinations and he had to have his blood drawn. The vet said he is now full grown at a whopping 4.10 pounds. Last night Nero starting shaking. We thought he didn't feel good from his shots, but just tried to make him confortable thinking he would get better.

This morning when we got up Neor never moved. He didn't wag his tail or even lift his head up. He laid in exactly the same spot for the hour it took me to get ready and take him back to the vet. The vet said he was dehydrated and had a fever. The poor little guy was NOT reacting well to his shots.

He is back from the vet and doing better now. He is still sluggish and not his usual happy Nero self. He did perk up when he saw a cat outside on the back deck though!

Blog Tips and Tricks

I can see already that I am going to have to get help on how to use a blog. In order to create this thing, I typed "how do you start a blog?" into google search.

Help! Tell me how you have used your blog and the easiet ways to navigate etc.