100 Days of HAPPY Days 3 and 4

I didn't get an opportunity to write up my blog yesterday so I am combining days 3 and 4 of happy.

Day 3 of Happy (Yesterday)

Christmas Eve

I was relieved to have completed all that I could for the Christmas festivities. I thoroughly enjoyed giving out gifts especially the ones I had made. I receive great pleasure in giving. I felt a bit sad though because losing mum and my not feeling well this year meant that I didn't make what I wanted too.

Wrapping gifts for my boys made me happy. Don't get me wrong.... I really don't enjoy wrapping but doing it for them makes me happy. I enjoy putting quirky messages on J's gifts and then arranging them just so.....

I took a great deal of pleasure in writing up my review for a blaster which I received via Amazon vine. I asked a special little boy to use the blaster on the condition that he produced a critique. This boy is 9 years old and the most sociable, chatty, engaging boy you could ever wish to meet. I honestly didn't expect a huge amount of detail.... but just look at this wonderful picture and write up.....

Day 4 of Happy (Today)

Christmas Day

So many things to make me happy today, just where do I begin?

The wonderful gifts given to me in love which have brought me alot of joy because of the thought, care and love behind them. 

Spending a couple of quiet hours with my J and watching him open his gifts.

Spending Christmas morning with cheeky Cola, even getting wet in the rain didn't dampen my spirits.

Watching my rabbit Bolt run around the garden for hours.... jumping, binking and generally loving life. During this time he was accompanied by some garden birds, a very busy male blackbird who kept jumping at my honeysuckle in order to retrieve berries then hopping over to the lawn to pick up worms. Some other birds flitted here and there. What amazed me was the fact that none of the birds were afraid of Bolt who continued to hop around the garden. I also didn't think that he had noticed the birds but he must have because he purposely went to investigate the honeysuckle where the blackbird had been feasting.

Cuddling with my dogs Pickles, Wilbur and Snowy..... Giving them their own Christmas dinner once we had finished ours then coming into the room to find them sleepy and content.

I am sure there is alot more happy to experience today but so far its been lovely.

Merry Christmas to you all. Bless you with healthy, love and joy now and always.

Mothers Day 2015

In line with one of my posts.... today I am thanking my body for giving me two beautiful, gorgeous and loving sons. 

 Joe and Jason with my Guardian Angel Cola

 Rhuddlan Castle before Rhuddlan Rocks 

 From birth my boys always had great fun in the river

 It's hard to ever think that they looked so young

 Harry and his sense of humour

 My favourite photo of Harry and I when he was just a couple of days old

 Joe never ceases to amaze me with his musical talent, a natural! I am so proud of him

 When the boys get along, they get along

 Harry

 We spent a great deal of time at Erddig Hall and Chirk Castle. We have lots of magical memories of those times.

 Harry has always had a special way with animals

 Watching movies has always been a family thing

 So smart ready for Uncle Nicholas and Aunty Catherines wedding

 Harry always loved to dress up

I love this photo of Joe and I even though he looks kind of shocked

 We had some lovely holidays with our God daughter

 So many happy Christmas's together. Little did we know that when Harry had this pilots jump suit that in future years he would become an Air Cadet

 Whenever Harry dressed up he took the part to heart

 We loved the Llyn Peninsula and Harry in particular liked to be buried in the sand

 We have eaten lots of ice cream over the years in different places 

 We have brought the boys up to have great respect for our war heroes

 Chirk Castle - I loved Joe in those long shorts

 Erddig Hall, Joe had such a lovely smile

 Oswestry Show - Harry would never sit still 

 Joe 

 Me and Joe

 Harry wasnt impressed with Father C

 India day, Harry never quite forgave me for this

 Harry loved horse riding

Clippers and Claws

Back in January 2009, I was about to start to groom a dog when I discovered the lump in my breast. I carried on with my job as if nothing had happened but I must admit it was a dreadful time.

Once I was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks later, I had to make the heart breaking decision to close my business. I physically would not be able to work after surgery and chemotherapy and certainly could not risk the chance of infection.

The side effects of treatments and then a second breast cancer has left me with chronic back and joint pain for which I have to take pain killers. Funnily enough though, running is one thing which actually helps my pain.

I honestly didn't think I would ever be able to work again as a dog groomer and my heart was heavy. I felt completely robbed and even more so when I discovered a groomers had started up in my village.

After a lot of thought and consideration I have decided to relaunch my business again, except that this time I will be offering a mix of mobile dog grooming, on site dog grooming, dog walking and pet care to include small animals and horses.

My pain is under control as long as I manage it properly and take my medications regularly so I am hoping I can do this.

I was honoured to have been asked to organise and judge the dog show at the annual St Peters School fete which took place today. It was such fun and I got a real buzz out of talking "shop" with fellow dog owners.

I have already had quite a bit of interest shown in my company Clippers and Claws and I am hoping that within this year I will have a workshop and I can get my business going well again.

Its been scarey and I am still scared about getting back into grooming after such a long time. Although the truth is I have always groomed throughout - my dogs and those of my friends. Plus its something I love doing with all of my heart.

For a while after my cancer treatment finished I have been acting like a victim.... Well enough is enough because I am not a victim, cancer has not taken anything from me in fact it has given me so much more..... more strength and determination not to mention the wonderful friends I have met along the way.

So there you are.... Clippers and Claws is back!

Healing Hands

Healing Hands Animal Care.........

What do you think of that as a name?

I loved my job as a dog groomer, such a successful little business and I enjoyed the fact that I was helping scared dogs and new pups - very rewarding.

However.... almost 5 years after my first cancer and 2 years of treatment I have come to the conclusion that....

1. Mobile dog grooming is too physically demanding for me to do on a full time basis
2. As a carer to my Autistic son I need to be flexible in my work 

and with those things in mind I have decided to invest money into quite a bit of training so that I can set up an animal care business.

The idea is to be able to cater for all types of animals from fish through to horses. Care on a regular basis or care for holiday cover.

Having done my Reiki level 1 I want to go on to get my masters and also train to use crystals for healing and Shiatsu.

I can then offer holistic treatments for pets and their owners.

I want to include dog walking, vet taxi, dog grooming, behaviour, training and nutrition.

Will there be money in it for me? - doubt it

Will I be happy? - most definately

I was considering a change of career and working with disabled children as a teaching assistant but I think it would eat me up, caring for somebody without curing.

Animals have always been in my life and are such an important part of it.

My animals have got me through both of my breast cancers and my horse has most definately been my life coach and therapist on my journey of recovery.

I would be really interested in any feed back on my ideas........

Positive Energy

I was going to blog about trees because I have some pretty spectacular ones in my village, all shapes and sizes with a story to tell but instead I am going to talk about something which is close to my heart, inspired by something a friend posted on facebook today........

POSITIVE ENERGY

and her words were "THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU CHANGES, POSITVITY ATTRACTS POSITVITY !"

I live by this code or at least I TRY my best too. When something "bad" happens to me I try not to sit there and cry or wallow in it, I try to see the good in what has happened and grow from the experience.

True.... it's really hard to find the good in some things but trust me, if you look hard enough and if you are patient you will find some!

In this cruel world, things happen which are beyond our control..... You have to ask yourself on a scale from 1 to 10  what is the absolute WORST thing that could happen to you. You then have to "grade" that bad thing with that matter in mind and then you can see that its truly not so bad after all.

I count my blessings.

As I live and breath and experience beautiful things I give thanks.

Sometimes its a Robin come to visit....

Or it could be a baby rabbit hopping across my path......

Or like yesterday, the fact that the farms dog chose to come along and share the ride out with me and my pony.......

Good things in life don't need to be bought with money, they are all around you! Everywhere and free to enjoy.

Wear a smile on your face - it makes you prettier, more handsome and more attractive.

Think happy thoughts.

If you have a bad thought try to challenge it!

The best weapon you can have in life is a postive mental attitude.

Cola and His Bad Back Update

I am not very good at keeping up with my blog, I seem to publish a post a month! I really must do better than that!

Last month I explained how Cola had seen a chiropractor to sort out his back. As luck would have it, my friend who also has her horse on my yard is training to become a chiropractor for horses and dogs. She is extremely knowledgeable and has taken Cola and I under her wing.

Claire has been regularly working on Colas back and has shown me how to carry out simple stretching exercises and strapping which I do on a daily basis. With her help great progress is being made!

Colas weight is dropping and he is now classed as "fat" but borderline ok for his breed. I weighed him yesterday with a weigh tape and he was 504kg so he needs to drop about 20kg. I am sure that we will get to that point very soon.

He is on limited turn out for grass so no more than 5-6 hours per day. His hay is soaked for 24 hours and he has an unlimited supply, he has two small feeds consisting of happy hoof, dynamic balancer and garlic.

So things really are looking up for us!

Water, Water, Everywhere.......

... but not a drop to drink!!!

I am fed up with the wet weather now.....

We had a wet summer last year which made it difficult for the farmers to get their crops in and meant that our horses were stuck in their stables and then the winter has been appalling so much so that the horses have been stabled for weeks on end.

Not only is this costly in extra hay and bedding but the horses are suffering physically and mentally.

I started the winter quite happy with my horses weight knowing that after the winter he would be starting spring in the best shape he has been in a long while but this long confinement has made him pile on the blubber!

So now I am having to soak his hay to reduce the sugars in it which is time consuming and hard blinking work physically!!!

AND

to make matters worse, with his age, weight and being kept in he has "done his back in" three times now. Its costing me a fortune in physio/chiro for him plus not being able to ride him during that time!!!

I am waiting for the back lady to visit on Tuesday because he is in pain again. He is such a lovely boy and rarely naggy but yesterday he wouldn't let me touch his back.... once he had been out for his 2 hour quota (better than nothing) he was feeling better....

So now I am walking him out in hand, carrying on with stretching exercises in his stable and loose schooling him at night in the menage - all of this is time consuming, worrying and hard work.

Sorry for the moan but I really had to get this off my chest!

Lets hope the sun stays out and we have less rain!

The Letter C

Well, a few years ago I was inspired by the late Barry Fraser to join a blogging group called Friday Shoot Out. Each week there would a theme and you would share photos based on that theme. This really was a fun thing to do and helped when I was recovering from cancer. 

Life has moved on since then and I have long since stopped posting in the group but low and behold, via Twitter I found a person doing the same thing and I thought I would give this a go, a fresh start with some new people.

So the theme for this week is the letter C.

Well, my Mr C plays such a huge part in my life how could I not feature this post on him my Cola.