Grandma Update and Christmas Stuff

Hi Guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and your New Year is "Twixerrific" as well!

I had a great Christmas and am a little late showing you the wonderful things I got! Hopefully you aren't Christmassed out and bored to death looking at my photos.

A note of warning: This is a long and picture heavy post. For some reason, Mom thinks she has to post most of the photos she took. She says it is because I'm so darn cute....I can't help that, ya know!

First off, I got a gift from Minna K in the mail because I joined Jazzi's Christmas Gift Exchange.
Thanks for hosting that Jazzi! It was great fun!

Mom made me wait to open it with my gift from Santa Paws. I wasn't all too happy about it either.

 

Momma made me open my Santa Paws gift first.

She said something about saving the best for last.

Ummmm.....aren't these my gifts?

Why can't I open the best first?

Whatever, just let me get in these boxes!

Something smells mighty tasty in here!

 

Scratch, scratch......

 

Sniff, sniff.....

 

Oooooh! I was right these are tasty!



I don't mean to talk with my mouth full.....
I just can't help myself!



So, Santa Paws brought me a box of Wellness Well Bars and a bag of Fruitables cookies.
 That's it!
 I musta been a naughty girl this year.
At least it wasn't coal, right?

 

Now, Minna's gift, that is something to talk about!

Mmmmmmm, I smell something good in here too!
Can somebody get this stuffing outta my way? 

 

Yummo!

I got my very own stocking!

Hey! What's in that box, Dad?

 

Pawesome! My very own ornament of ME!!!!



Lookie at all this wonderful stuff I got from Minna!!!!

A doxie card ;o)

2 bags of treats and ones I've not tried out before! Double ;o)

My ornament ;o)

A stocking with MY name on it ;o)

And check out the great Christmas collar/necklace ;o)



I better double check and make sure those humans got everything outta my box.

Thank you so very much, Minna Krebs!!!!

I love everything!

And thank you Jazzi for hosting such a wonderful
Blogville event!

Taste testing time!!!

What?
You don't think I'm sharing these treats with you, do you?

Thanks to everyone who has asked about Grandma. We really appreciate your thoughts, crossed paws, and prayers.  And, we need them more than ever now.

Grandma saw the specialist last week and we learned that she has a type of Leukemia called Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML).  It is a rare type of Leukemia that the doctors believe was caused by her chemotherapy.  She will have to have a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. And with her type of Leukemia, they will have to kill the bone marrow she has now before the transplant so that the new cells aren't mutated by the bad ones. What that means is that she will have absolutely NO immunity system and will be confined to her house for 100 days afterwards, no visitors, only trips to the doctor's office.

Fortunately, my grandma has 5 brothers and sisters who are all willing to be tested as potential donors.  We are hoping one of them will be a match and she will be able to get started with her treatment as soon as possible. We are also hoping Grandma's insurance company will completely cover the expenses related to her treatment.

It is all so very hard to understand because it doesn't seem right or fair that something used to get rid of cancer can give it to you. Not right at all.

A few photos taken Christmas Eve of Grandma and Baby Elizabeth:



 

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We will try to update you when we have new information.  Mom and I have not been leaving comments much lately and I know you understand. We do read your posts and you guys provide us laughter on days when we need it most!

 

If you are interested in finding out more about CMML,
 please click here.

If there is any incorrect information on here regarding CMML and treatment we apologize, this is how we understand things from the information we were given.

Photo Book Giveaway and Review!!!

I told you guys a couple of weeks ago about an upcoming photo book giveaway from Mixbook here.

Several weeks ago I was contacted by Mixbook and asked if I would like to review an 11 x 8.5 inch photo book and then give one away to one of you.  Mom and I discussed this and decided that it was a great idea. Mom has looked at some of the photo book sites but most of them want you to download software in order to create their products.
Not so with Mixbook and that is one thing Mom really liked about using this website.

And there are lots of other things she likes too:

~There are lots of book templates to pick from and you can customize everything in the books. You can have your book "automixed" as well.

We chose one of the templates but ended up
 changing every page to our liking.

~You can upload photos from your computer or you can use photos from your online photo accounts like Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, Photobucket, Smugmug, and Yahoo.

~You can collaborate with others and make a book together online.  This is something that Mom has never seen before and she thinks its a great idea.

~Once you have created a photo book you can share it online with family and friends for free or you can order one in print. You don't have to have it printed to share it which is another thing I haven't seen before.

~They have pet themed backgrounds and embellishments for those obsessed with their pets!

 

Mom and I made the book for Daddy for Christmas. We took each letter of his name and put in words that describe him and added photos. We made our book like a photo scrapbook and the images you see in this post are pictures Momma took (not very good ones either).


My Daddy loved this gift!




I'm so excited to give one of these away to one of my followers.  Please just leave a comment on this post if you would like to be entered in the drawing for the giveaway.  I will post the winner on Monday, January 3rd. The code I have for the winner will expire on January 31st so that will give you almost a month to get your book done.

You can use coupon code DOGMIX20 for 20% off if you don't win and would like to make a book of your own.

I will be posting about my Christmas gifts from Minna Krebs and Santa Paws later this week.  I wanted to do the giveaway first so the winner will have time to get their book finished.

Merry Christmas to You!

  We wanted to wish all our friends a

Very Merry Christmas today! 

I wish I could send each and every one of you a Christmas card but that is impossible so I am sharing it here for you.

I would also like to share some photos from the past. 

 These photos are from Christmas 2001.

Twix (that's me!)

Reeses

I hope each and every one of you has the most wonderful Christmas ever! And I hope Santa Paws brings more treats than my furiends can eat!!! I know, that will never happen but a girl can dream can't she?

Merry

Christmas!

About Grandma

I have recently asked you to keep my grandma in your thoughts and prayers but wasn't able to really disclose much information because we weren't sure what was going on with her. We know some information now and I wanted to update you so you could continue to send her some paw power.

Grandma had a bone marrow biopsy a couple of weeks ago and we found out earlier this week that she has Chronic Leukemia. We learned that Leukemia can be a side effect of chemotherapy but it usually takes a few years for it to develop. Since Grandma finished her chemo treatments in April the doctors think maybe she had this as an underlying condition and the chemo treatments brought it to the surface. We don't really know much about the disease yet but Grandma is scheduled to see a specialist this week.

One of my favorite Grandma and me photos:

Thanks so much for all your support for Grandma and please continue keeping those paws crossed for her!

Please be patient with me as I have not been visiting blogs much at all the past few weeks.  I hope once the Holidays are over and Mom isn't so stressed out about things I can get back to visiting more regularly.

Did you know about my sister?

You didn't know about her, did ya?  Me and momma have not talked about her on the blog at all.  Actually, I mentioned her when I was telling you about adopting my daddy. 

That is me on the left and Reeses on the right.  This photo was taken in December 2001. Reeses was only a part of our family for a few months.  If you read my adoption story, you know about my mom getting really sick. Well, Reeses was not even a year old yet and when Mom got home from the hospital she realized she wasn't able to take care of both of us and we had to find a different home for Reeses. She and I were not "related" in the sense that we have the same parents. She was a standard doxie where as I am a mini/tweenie ;o) Reeses went to live with the daughter of someone who worked at our vet's office at the time. Unfortunately, we don't get to see her but have heard that she is doing great!
Momma says she still misses her......

She looks like the lovely Lorenza, huh?

More photos to come as Christmas approaches.

Happy Thursday everyone!

The Giveaway Winner Is.....

Sue from A Portuguese Water Blog!!!!!

Congrats Sue!

If you don't know Sue please stop over and say hello!

She has quite a handful of pups over at her place.

I can't even begin to count that high and look what happens when they all get hungry!!!!



Can you imagine having to share your kibble with all those cuties?

Sorry, no photos of the drawing. I wasn't being too helpful anyway and then the batteries on mom's camera died. She was even trying to take a quick video so you could see me in action! Maybe once she gets new batteries we can post the video. It is a prime example of "Doxie Attitude".

Holiday Card Giveaway!

Cafe Press is sponsoring another giveaway for my furiends!  If you remember, they sponsored a t-shirt giveaway last spring on my blog and my daddy and I got matching shirts.



CafePress offers the best selection of customized and unique gifts. You can get just about any design on a wide variety of products. Its a great place to find Christmas gifts. And if you don't find a design you like you can create your own design either by uploading your image or using their design tools available for lots of products. I really think Cafe Press has a great website because all their products are user designed.

I was really excited when they contacted me about doing a Holiday card giveaway because they have recently partnered with Breastcancer.org, Greenpeace, PETA, Operation Gratitude and Rock the Vote with special template cards for each one. 10% of every purchase of these cards goes back to that organization. Of course, I picked a PETA card but I'm not showing you which one in case I send it to you!

"Blast from the Past" 2004
This is NOT the photo I uploaded!

The giveaway will consist of a pack of 12 customized cards. You can add your own photo(s) and text. I just received my cards and I was really impressed with the quality. Not only are the cards on nice cardstock but the print quality of the photo I uploaded is pawfect!

Things have been a bit crazy around here and we were slow getting our cards ordered so our review is late too. I would tell you my mom is a slacker but it isn't true (this time). As you know we have had a lot going on with my grandma and I hope to be able to update you next week.

Due to being late we will have to make this a quick giveaway or you won't get your cards in time. In order to enter please just leave a comment on this post. If I cannot contact you via your profile please leave your email address in your comment. A winner will be chosen the evening of Monday, December 6th. Feel free to let others know about this since there isn't much time to sign up.

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by Cafe Press.
 I received no compensation other than a pack of 12 Holiday cards to review.
All opinions about Cafe Press are my own.

Have You Heard?

Have you guys heard of MixBook?

I just recently learned about them and wanted to let you know that you can make photo books on their site.  As a matter of fact, Momma is working on one now.  When we get it we will be doing a review and a GIVEAWAY for one of my lucky readers to get a photo book of their own ;o)

We just ordered my Christmas cards from them today because they are having a Cyber Monday sale for 50% off right now. The sale doesn't end until Wednesday night.  When I do my review I will be giving out a coupon code for 20% off but thought any procrastinators out there (like my mom) might want to get some Christmas cards or Christmas gifts for half price. 

Momma says she has had fun working on the photo book and the program is really easy to use. They also have some fun features like stickers which she hasn't seen from other programs before. She showed me this so I know it is real.....they even have a pre-made pet book that you can put your own photos in! How fun is that? Books just for us bloggers! Anyway, we wanted to let you know about the upcoming giveaway and the great discount currently available.

Mom and I have not had much time to visit for about a week. Please be patient with us.

We wanted to let you know that my grandma is having some tests ran on Thursday so we could use some extra paw power and prayers between now and then. The waiting to find out what is wrong is the hardest part!

And, for you puppy lovers out there.......

The Story of Me & Christmas Shopping Spree

Thanks to Minna for hosting "The Story of Me" on this wonderful Thanksgiving 2010.

I don't have much of an adoption story because my Momma got me when I was 5 1/2 weeks old.

She had another doxie, Max, and he passed away in February 1999 after living a wonderful 17 years.

I usually post the same photo of Max but today,
we have a new and different one for you to enjoy.

Momma (she didn't know Daddy yet) wasn't ready to get another dog right away. One day one of her coworkers said her neighbor's dogs just had puppies....and they were doxies! Momma agreed to go and look at them. I was 3 weeks old at that time. There were about 6 puppies there and Mom played with them all and loved on all them. She picked me up and I fell asleep in the palm of her hand....belly up. She liked my coloring too. I was chocolate and tan. So, she told the lady she wanted to get me.

First puppy photo of me EVER on the blog!
See, I haven't been lying to you, I was chocolate and tan!

Mom was planning to get me several weeks later because she was in the middle of moving. The lady called Mom the first week of August (I was born June 20) and said she needed to come and pick me up. Mom said she thought I was too young to be away from my birth mother but the lady said all the other puppies were already gone and she had someone else interested in me if she didn't come to get me.

So, I moved in with Mom and all her boxes. I was certainly too young to be away from my first home but Momma put me in bed with her that night and that made me feel more comfy. Matter of fact, I was so comfy I woke Momma up in the middle of the night pushing on her tummy.....looking for something to eat.

Taken after I was "fixed".
Didn't know I was broken to start with!

I am not a registered dog and was relatively inexpensive and yes, I came from a backyard breeder. Mom and Dad don't care where I came from they love me no matter what and that is what I am most thankful for today!

Frankie requested I tell how I adopted my dad today too. Most of you guys know how much of a Daddy's girl I am. It didn't start out that way at all!!

I was about 2 years old when Momma and Daddy met.  When she told Dad that she had a Dachshund he said, "I don't like little dogs.". Mom asked how did he know if he liked me or not if he never met me. He said again he didn't like little dogs and he knew he wouldn't like me. So, whenever he came over to our house and had dinner he would eat off a TV tray in the living room.  My daddy eats bread and butter with every meal and he would put his bread on a napkin next to his plate on the tray. Following me here? Since he didn't like me, I decided I didn't like him either and he knew it. The first moment he wasn't looking at his plate I would reach up there real quiet like and snatch a slice of that yummy bread and butter off his tray. I was so quick that I had most of it eaten before he ever realized what happened.
Ah, those were the days ;o)

So, Mom and Dad started dating in Sept 2001 and after the first of the year Mom got really sick and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Daddy came over and took care of us during that time. (We also had another doxie that you will get to meet over the next few weeks.) He felt so sorry for me that he spoiled me rotten while Momma was in the hospital.  I decided I liked him after he started spoiling me!
He says we "bonded" during that time.

Daddy and I after "bonding".



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to Frankie for hosting the Christmas Shopping Spree for our parents today too!

For Christmas, I would give my parents a new king size bed. They both dislike my queen size bed that I share with them. If we shared a king size bed, maybe they would quit complaining about how much room I take.


Next I would buy them a lifetime membership to Petco. That way, they won't have to stress out when I'm needing something new and they are out of green papers.


For my momma, I would buy this:

Not the phones, the herd ;o)

And for my daddy I would get this:


Have a Twixerrific Thanksgiving!!!!!

Note from Twix: I know some of you have read that we need some paw power sent our way on Frankies' blog. It is really my grandma who needs it. Even tho she finished her chemo treatments in April she is having some complications related to that. I can give more details in the future when we get some answers. Please pray and cross paws that what the docs think is wrong with her is not it!

Look Who I Got To Meet

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house last night and look who was there!

Baby Elizabeth!

This is the first time I got to meet her. I've never been around such a tiny baby before. Last time I was around a baby was when I was a pup and my cousin Kayla was about a year old.....that was eleven years ago!

Sniff.....Sniff.....Sniff......

Hi there, Little One!

You hiding any yummy treats in there?

She ain't got no treats :o(

I thought I've heard some of you say these
things were treat dispensers.

Hmmmmm....This one must be broken.

So, while Momma was holding Elizabeth, I got a little jealous. 

Guess what I did?

No, I didn't bite Momma or Elizabeth.

Nope, I didn't growl or bark either.

I'll give you one more guess.

Yep, that's right, I tinkled on the rug in front of the door.

Hey! At least I didn't do it on the carpet!

Next thing I know, Gwen is giving me the stare down.

Look out there kitty cat!

I'm gonna start barkin and chasin any minute!

On your mark, get set......

Mom? Can you make her move????

Note from Mom:  Twix usually barks and goes crazy around cats because she was attacked by one when she was a puppy.  There are 2 cats at my mom's house and if Twix gets a glimpse of Sammy she starts barking and growling.  For some reason she is not that way around Gwen. We can't quite figure it out but maybe it is because Gwen isn't scared of Twix and doesn't run from her....?????